RATCH-Australia, the operator of the plant, is in the process of decommissioning and putting under care and maintenance the Collinsville coal-fired power station. It was investigating options to redevelop the site with one or more new forms of electricity generation.[2] As of 20 February 2013, RATCH was partnering with the University of Queensland to investigate replacing all the coal-fired power generators with solar thermal generators.[3]
On 10 July 2014 it was announced that the solar thermal plans for Collinsville would not be proceeding.[4]
On 8 May 2017 it was announced that it will be replaced by a 42MW solar farm.[5]CIMIC Group's UGL Limited has the contracts for engineering, procurement and construction expected to take 13 months followed by operation and maintenance for five years.[6]
The coal for Collinsville came from local open-cut mines.
Collinsville was commissioned in 1968 with four 30 MW steam turbines. A 60 MW machine was later commissioned in 1976. These were refurbished in 1999, and upgraded to 66 MW and 31 MW respectively. They were decommissioned by 2018.[2]
