Ben Campbell.
The good news is that the two electricity generators at Callide in south east Queensland that were disabled May 2021 and October 2022 could be back online next month.
The bad news is that the $50 million-odd remaining in the kitty of IG Power (Callide) Pty Ltd (IGPC) will be insufficient to meet the next cash call to be issued to IGPC by Callide Energy Pty Ltd (CEPL), IGPC’s joint venture partner in the Callide C power station at Biloela and an entity wholly owned by the Queensland State government through CS Energy Limited (CSEL).
As operator and manager of the generators and associated businesses, CEPL issues a monthly cash call to IGPC for the funds it needs to keep the operations afloat while the generating units are brought back on line.
During an application in the Federal Court yesterday Justice Roger Derrington heard that the next cash call from CEPL will be in the vicinity of $70 million and IGPC’s administrators, FTI Consulting’s John Park and Ben Campbell, were concerned to limit their personal liability for future debts in circumstances where there’s less than that sum available to them and their investigations as to who might be responsible for the failures and therefore subject to a claim are yet to be completed.
Park and Campbell were first appointed as special purpose administrators (SPAs) by order of the Federal Court on January 29, 2024, an order that specified that they were not indemnified out of the assets of IGPC.
The application yesterday to limit their personal liability was brought in circumstances where orders had been made previously granting such protections to Park and Campbell’s predecessors, who resigned last month in the face of concerted pressure brought by major shareholders wanting them removed.
Deloitte pair Grant Sparks and Richard Hughes earned the ire of certain shareholder creditors by not progressing their investigations fast enough, and only averted a judicial referral to the regulator by agreeing to retire and pay their opponents’ costs on the indemnity basis and without recourse to the assets of IGPC and IG Energy Holdings (Australia) Pty Ltd.
Park and Campbell then became the general purpose administrators (GPAs) of IGPC and three related entities, IG Energy Holdings (Australia) Pty Ltd, IG Power Holdings Ltd and IG Power Marketing Pty Ltd.
The court also heard that Park and Campbell require more time to determine whether or not they should disown the leases in respect of the land on which the Callide facility operates and agreed to waive the requirement for them to convene a first meeting of creditors, given Sparks and Hughes had already done so and replicating it would impose an unnecessary expense. The kitty may be bare but the good news keeps coming.
Further reading:
Deloitte duo capitulate on Callide
Deloitte duo stumble again in Callide litigation
I retired 19 years ago at 60 so I am 79, after a interesting working life,where something new was learnt every day as employee 69121 of the Electricity Commission of N.S.W.and its replacements as a (appo/m) operator maintainer.
To isolate the critical 220 VDC supply with the alternator connected to the grid can only be described as very expensive ignorance!
Always remember that ignorance is only the absence of knowledge.
To ensure this does did not happen a mechanical interlocking Castell Key Locking System was always installed to ensure that the 220VDC was available to open this most critical circuit breaker when it was in service.
Physical mechanical key interlocking has been used for more than one hundred years
to ensure that a critical procedure has been carried out correctly.
High voltage isolating instruction using black padlocks as outlined in the Callide High Voltage Safety Rules seems to have been invented to try to replace a Castell Key System that was no longer or never available.
To employ a structural forensic engineer instead of a electrical forensic engineer to carry out the enquiry needs explanation.
All the critical pumps on a large stream turbine have a 220VDC backup pumps if normal AC pumps are not available to enable the main shaft to run down and be placed on turning gear to prevent shaft hogging as soon as possible
It is critical that 220VDC Battery on full load is not paralleled with another unloaded battery because of the high currents possible!
Why this alternator was allowed to remain in service with a critical 220 VDC switching being carried out has to be ignorance.
The possible loss of income to be caused by taking the unit out service was a pittance