Genex completes feasibility study of Kidston hydro storage plant in Queensland

Australian company Genex has completed a technical feasibility study into the construction of a pumped storage hydroelectric power plant at Kidston Gold Mine in North Queensland.

The study results include details on the optimised design and capacity of the storage project to appropriately mitigate or address the key risks that were identified in the pre-feasibility stage.

The technically feasible project is expected to have an installed capacity of 250MW and storage capacity of 1,500MWh over a six-hour period.

The Australian Renewable Agency (ARENA) supported the feasibility work by providing nearly A$4m ($3.07m) funding.

ARENA CEO Ivor Frischknecht said: “With the support of ARENA, projects like Kidston are helping Australia make the transition to a more affordable and reliable renewable energy future.

“This is a very positive milestone and a springboard for Genex to develop and finance the full-scale project.

“The favoured design would be capable of rapidly delivering enough electricity into the grid to power over 100,000 homes when it’s needed most. Early indications show it could provide low-cost storage that’s significantly cheaper than other options such as batteries.

“It comes at a time when cost-effective storage options are becoming increasingly important as more large-scale renewable energy generation enters the national electricity market.”

The plant will be designed to release water from an upper storage reservoir through reversible turbine-generators and into the lower reservoir.

This process will allow an intermittent generation to be stored and dispatched to the grid during periods of high demand.

However, during off-peak hours the plant will use electricity from the grid to pump back water from lower reservoir to the upper storage reservoir.

Construction on the power facility, which is estimated to cost $282m, may commence in 2017, with the first year of operation scheduled for 2019.

Frischknecht said that Queensland intends to add 300MW of new large-scale solar next year, with funding support from ARENA.