Kidston pumped storage hydro project reaches financial close

The 50MW Kidston Solar Farm during construction – Image taken October 2017. (Project now complete). Image Courtesy of Genex Power Limited.

Genex Power has announced it has reached financial close for the 250MW Kidston Pumped Storage Hydro Project (K2-Hydro) as construction ramps up on site in far north Queensland.

The project will utilise two disused gold mine pits near the central Queensland township of Kidston, providing dispatchable supplies of energy storage, and will be combined with onsite supplies of renewable electricity.

Financial close for the project follows settlement and allotment of almost 107 million shares in Genex to J-POWER, who has become the largest single shareholder in the company with a 10 per cent interest.

Other major investments in the project include a $610 million loan from the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility, $47 million in grant funding from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency, and fundings from the Clean Energy Finance Corporation.

The Queensland Government will also invest $147 million to connect Genex’s Kidston Pumped Storage Hydro Project (K2-Hydro) to Queensland households and businesses.

Genex chief executive officer James Harding said the announcement marked an important step in the roll out of large-scale energy storage capability in the National Electricity Market.

“Financial close for the Kidston Pumped Storage Hydro Project is a monumental achievement and one Genex has been working towards for over five years,” Harding said.

“Site preparation activities are now well progressed as we prepare for full scale construction activities over the next few months.

John Holland and McConnell Dowell are delivery partners for the project, with McConnel Dowell announcing in April that construction was due to commence soon.

“For 60 years, McConnell Dowell has successfully delivered complex infrastructure with our customers and the community and the Kidston Pumped Storage Hydro Project is another excellent example of our creative construction ethos in action,”McConnell Dowell chief executive officer Scott Cummins had said in April.

Construction activities at the site include the installation of accommodation units at the Oaks Rush accommodation village and at Kidston, upgrade of the access ramp to Eldridge Pit, and installation of a new communication system. Rock material sampling and testing for concrete production has been completed, and pumps are being mobilised to site to commence the initial dewatering of the Eldridge pit.

The Kidston Pumped Storage Hydro Project and its associated transmission infrastructure is expected to be completed and feeding into the National Electricity Market by early 2025.