During Parliamentary Budget Estimates on Tuesday 8 August 2023, I asked about cost of failures at the Callide power station.
You can read the answers below or in the official Queensland Parliament Record of Proceedings (Hansard).
Mr BERKMAN: Back to Callide C4, given that it has been out of action for more than two years, which I understand is longer than the business continuity insurance period, and IG Power remains in administration, can you provide an estimate for the committee of what is the quantum of losses that will have to be met by CS Energy?
Mr Martyn: That question is better directed to the CEO of CS Energy.
CHAIR: We have to be really quick here. While the CEO of CS Energy is coming to the table, because this is government questioning time, I ask the minister if you wish to clarify a response there?
Mr de BRENNI: Thank you, Chair. I do want to provide some additional information to the member for Maiwar. The CEO of CleanCo is correct that they are still working towards the construction and ownership of renewable wind and solar projects, however they do own and operate hydro projects— both the Wivenhoe project and the North Queensland run-of-river project. So, if your definition of ‘renewable projects’—and I would say my definition of ‘renewables’ would include that; some others might not—they do have the state’s largest pumped hydro project operation at Wivenhoe and it does, from day to day, pump up using substantial amounts of renewable energy to be released to displace high-priced fossil fuels later in the evening.
Mr BERKMAN: I will repeat the question for Mr Busine, if that is helpful. Given that the C4 unit has been out of action for more than two years, which I understand is longer than the business continuity insurance period, and also IG Power remains in administration, can you provide an estimate of what is the quantum of losses that CS Energy has had to meet?
Mr Busine: We are currently in the process of seeking insurance claims on the event, the estimated costs for the rebuild being $90 million for our share and estimated revenue of $150 million. We are still in the process of, as I say, working through that with our insurers and we believe that we have a very strong case for the recovery of those moneys. We are not impacted by the administration process of the joint venture party. Their insurance is a separate item. We are continuing to work with the administrators to get the units back on line as quickly as we can.