Rolling coal outages in Qld spell trouble for Crisafulli's Energy Plan

The Queensland Conservation Council has condemned the Crisafulli Government’s plan to rely on ageing coal-fired power stations for decades, after it was revealed today the State’s coal stations suffered 131 outages in just the last year.

A new Reliability Watch report has identified that over the 2025 winter period, the coal-fired power stations in Australia’s main grid had a staggering 142 outages, including 23 scheduled and 119 unplanned breakdowns. This builds on previous report findings over summer, which found Australia’s ageing coal power stations broke down 128 times. 

Queensland’s coal fleet, despite being the youngest, is the least reliable in the National Electricity Market. From April - September 2025, an average of 26% of Queensland’s coal-fired power station capacity was offline, compared to 22% in NSW and 16% in Victoria. The worst performing coal units during this period are all in Queensland: with Gladstone 1, Tarong North, Millmerran 2 and Callide C3 all being available less than 50% of the time.

Queensland’s peak conservation body says the Crisafulli Government’s half-baked energy plan does not deal with the reality that our ageing coal power stations are increasingly unreliable and need to be replaced. This report comes as the Queensland Government is expected to repeal Queensland’s Renewable Energy Targets this week.

Queensland Conservation Council’s Energy Strategist Clare Silcock said:

“Our report findings are hard, indisputable evidence that our coal clunkers are failing and need to be replaced. 

“No matter how many billions of taxpayer dollars the Crisafulli Government funnels into patching up coal power stations, we’re not going to see reliable power from these ageing generators as they struggle to keep up with renewable energy, which now powers 30% of Queensland’s grid.

“Queensland’s ageing coal power stations had 69 outages over the winter period, including 61 unplanned breakdowns. Over summer, we all had to pay for higher wholesale electricity prices after 78 outages. 

“This report demonstrates how fanciful the Crisafulli Government’s Energy Roadmap really is because it chains Queenslanders to ageing coal for decades and doesn’t plan for the fleet's inevitable and necessary retirement. 

“The Crisafulli Government’s moves to axe wind progressed projects and repeal the State’s renewable energy targets will do nothing but drive up emissions and power bills, and increase energy unreliability. 

“Last week the Australian Energy Market Commission warned power prices would rise significantly if we didn’t get on with the job of building more renewable energy and transmission to replace retiring coal, and this week the Crisafulli Government will axe Queensland’s renewable energy targets. It’s a diabolical move based on anti-renewable ideology, not what’s in the best interest of Queenslanders.

“We’re calling on the Premier to stop playing Queenslanders for fools and to be honest that our failing coal clunkers aren’t able to provide reliable power  for decades to come. It’s time for the Queensland Government to put ideology aside and plan for the energy transformation.”

Media contact: Ellie Mclachlan 0407 753 830

ENDS

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