AGL has secured the right to develop, own and operate a 250MW pumped hydro energy storage project in South Australia’s Adelaide Hills region.
The project would be located at Hillgrove Resources Limited’s Kanmantoo copper mine.
AGL’s Executive General Manager of Wholesale Markets, Richard Wrightson, said, “This is an exciting project, which is consistent with our plans to continue to invest in our core energy markets business as customer needs and technologies evolve.
“If we proceed and the project is approved, it would be an important addition to our technology mix in South Australia, where we have significant wind and thermal generation. It would help us to meet the changing needs of the South Australian energy market, in which energy storage assets are likely to be needed to provide dispatchable capacity as renewables generation increases over the coming years.”
Mr Wrightson said the signing of binding agreements was the start of a multiple stage process to progress the project, including the lodgement of a development application in 2020.
AGL would buy the land required for the project from Hillgrove shortly after a final investment decision, which is expected to be made after the completion of processing at Kanmantoo.
“If all approvals are received, we expect the project to be completed and operating by 2024,” Mr Wrightson said.
Lauren ‘LJ’ Butler is the Assistant Editor of Utility magazine and has been part of the team at Monkey Media since 2018.
After completing a Bachelor of Media, Communications and Professional Writing at the University of Wollongong in 2014, and prior to writing about the utility sector, LJ worked as a Journalist and Sub Editor across the horticulture, hardware, power equipment, construction and accommodation industries with publishers such as Glenvale Publications, Multimedia Publishing and Bean Media Group.
