QUEENSLAND electricity users could face further blackouts, after a fire caused the Callide Power station to shutdown near Biloela on Tuesday afternoon.
As a result of the fire and explosion in the Turbine Hall for Callide C4, both Callide C units and 1 Callide B unit tripped and came offline, causing widespread power outages to more than four hundred thousand homes and businesses across Queensland.
Following an inspection overnight, it is understood that Unit C4 has experienced major damage.
Callide Power Station is comprised of two power plants, Callide B and C, each with two generating units, and has a permanent workforce of 260 employees.
The coal-fired power station supplies baseload electricity to the national grid from two sites, the 700-megawatt Callide B station and the 825-megawatt Callide C station.
CS Energy CEO Andrew Bills said the company's priority is the health and safety of its people following an incident at Callide Power Station on Tuesday afternoon.
"Our people remain our priority," Mr Bills said.
"We are providing support to our employees and this will continue for as long as it is needed.
"Thank you to our colleagues at AEMO, Powerlink and Energy Queensland who have worked throughout the night to restore power to people's homes and businesses and keep the grid safe.
"I would also like to acknowledge the hard work of the emergency services crews who attended site."
Mr Bills said CS Energy recognised the events that occurred at Callide had impacted people and businesses throughout Queensland.
"We appreciate the efforts of Queenslanders to conserve energy. I understand blackouts are disruptive," he said.
"That's why our focus is on understanding the cause of the incident and importantly what needs to be done to get our units safely back online."
Powerlink Queensland, the operators of the state's high-voltage electricity transmission network, released a statement that it was "investigating an outage impacting power supply".
"As a direct impact of the incident at Callide Power Station on Tuesday afternoon, AEMO has identified the potential for electricity demand to exceed supply in Queensland," a Powerlink spokesperson said.
"We will be working closely with AEMO, Energex and Ergon Energy to reduce the impact on customers due to this shortfall in generation in Queensland.
"It may be necessary to implement load shedding to protect the statewide supply of electricity."
Load shedding involves turning off power supply to customers to avoid the entire electricity network becoming unstable.
An investigation into the cause of the fire and explosion is ongoing.