Collinsville Power Station

The Collinsville Power Station is located 4 kilometres west of Collinsville, Queensland. It is wholly owned by RATCH-Australia Corporation. (The former website of Transfield Services Infrastructure Fund states that it sold 80% of the project to Ratch-Australia in July 2011 and retained a 20% stake in the power station. However, the RATCH-Australia website states that the power station is "wholly owned" by it).

Background
The power station has an installed capacity of 180 megawatts (MW) from four 30MW generating units and one 60MW unit. The company states that the plant was "completely refurbished in 1998 through a joint venture with Transfield Collinsville Pty Limited and NRGenerating Holdings. It is independently estimated that Collinsville has a potential remaining technical life of 18 years based on the refurbished plant design life of 30 years."

Closure
The Contract for Closure Program was announced by the Australian government in July 2011 as a part of its carbon price package. The government stated that the primary aim of the program was "to support the closure of around 2,000 megawatts of highly emissions intensive generation capacity in Australia by 2020, subject to negotiation with eligible generators." RATCH-Australia indicated its interested in negotiating a compensation package to shut the power station.

However, before any agreement could be reached RATCH Australia announced in early June 2012 that its Power Purchase Agreement with Stanwell Corporation would been cancelled effective at the end of the month. "RAC will continue to operate the station as required to supply seasonal load requirements to Queensland’s electricity grid ... RAC is considering a range of options for the future operation of the power station, as well as re-development opportunities in renewable and hybrid energy generation. As part of this process the company is in negotiations with the Federal Government in relation to the Contract for Closure program." While the Power Purchase Agreement was due to run until 2016, RATCH-Australia reached a financial settlement with Stanwell Corporation under which it was paid A$99.57 in compensation for the termination of the agreement.

While RATCH hoped to qualify for a payout under the Contract for Closure program, the federal government abandoned the program without reaching agreement on any plant retirements.

Handout from carbon tax package
RATCH-Australia Corporation received $8,719,952.91 of the $1 billion cash payments given out in 2011/12 to the operators of the most polluting coal-fired power stations. The cash was paid from the Energy Security Fund which was established as a part of the carbon tax legislation passed in 2011.

Coal supply
Coal for the power station is sourced from the nearby Collinsvale mine.

Related SourceWatch articles

 * Australia and coal
 * Carbon Capture and Storage in Australia
 * Existing coal-fired power stations in Queensland