Winter is here — and our team at Braemar Power Station is ready for it

Our team at Braemar Power Station in Queensland is working hard to ensure our customers have access to their energy when it matters most.

A group photo of the Braemar team in yellow hi-vis clothing.
Alinta Energy CEO & Managing Director Jeff Dimery (second from left) visits the Braemar Power Station team in Queensland.
Alinta Energy image Article by Alinta Energy | 02 Jun 2025

Braemar Power Station is our largest gas plant by capacity, and the second largest in the Alinta Energy portfolio overall. It's an important part of our operations, and the Braemar team works round the clock to make sure it can provide energy on demand to customers and the market. This is especially true when it comes to winter readiness, when colder temperatures typically lead to higher gas demand.

Ahead of winter, the station’s units are scheduled for a dedicated one-week outage window for maintenance, and planning is everything. The team schedules outages well ahead of time, with help from contractors and a dedicated Emergency Response Team (ERT) member to ensure everything runs safely and smoothly.

During the outages, the Braemar team replaces pumps and motors, inspects control valves, and carries out their annual checks of the site’s electrical and fire systems. Any issues identified between outages are also addressed during this time, with the team using specialised software to monitor equipment behaviour in real time and ensure all systems respond as expected. 

“At Braemar, we prevent unexpected failures and downtime with regular inspections and services. We base these on time, hours run, or condition.”

John, Braemar Plant Manager

Braemar Plant Manager John McCullough on site in hi-vis and hard hat.

Braemar Plant Manager John McCullough says the team uses this data to stay ahead of the curve.

“At Braemar, we prevent unexpected failures and downtime with regular inspections and services,” he says. “We base these on time, hours run, or condition.”

An upgrade to the site’s monitoring systems is also underway, which will give the Equipment Manager live insights into critical indicators like bearing temperatures and vibrations—helping to catch potential issues early.

And while winter is the current focus, the team is also preparing for the summer months ahead. Maintenance on the site's demineralisation plant — which removes minerals from water to make them suitable for use in power generation — is also completed ahead of time to ensure peak performance when demand rises in the summer months.

With this proactive approach and a focus on continuous improvement, Braemar is ready for whatever the seasons bring. As John says, “it’s all about using the opportunity wisely to ensure availability and reliability”.

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