Genex Power has reached another major milestone in the development of its Kidston pumped storage project in North Queensland, Australia, with news that the project’s Technical Feasibility Study has been successfully completed.
Genex Power has reached another major milestone in the development of its Kidston pumped storage project in North Queensland, Australia, with news that the project’s Technical Feasibility Study (TFS) has been successfully completed.
The TFS – which was managed by specialist power and water consulting firm, Entura, in conjunction with project partner, HydroChina – concludes that all of the key risks identified at the pre-feasibility stage, and any additional risks identified during the study, have been appropriately mitigated or addressed through detailed design augmentation and optimisation.
“Much of the work undertaken by Entura was focused on optimising the project to achieve a design which is technically and commercially feasible,” said Genex Power Managing Director Michael Addison. “Following a thorough investigation, a preferred configuration has been determined and the project is now fully designed from a technical feasibility perspective, including the civil works program and detailed mechanical equipment specifications.”
Entura Project Director and Principal Consultant, Civil Engineering Richard Herweynen said that a number of project size options ranging from 200 MW to 450 MW were developed as part of the TFS: “Following detailed market studies undertaken by Genex and its financial consultants to assess the pricing and revenue impacts of the various options considered, it was determined that a 250MW scheme with six hours of continuous generation, totalling 1500 MWh of energy storage capacity, would be the optimal size.”
The Project is now fully designed, including the civil works program and detailed mechanical equipment specifications. Genex and Entura continue to engage with a number of highly experienced and well recognised EPC Contractors and Generator/Turbine Suppliers to develop the capital cost estimates. Formal competitive tender processes will be undertaken over the course of the next phase of the Project development to further refine Project capex.
The energy market has evolved significantly since the initial inception of the Project. Going forward, it is anticipated that the market will undergo an intense transition period as the generation mix across the National Energy Market (NEM) shifts from traditional fossil fuel generation towards a fast growing proportion of large scale renewable energy generation. There is a critical need for large scale energy storage, at an affordable cost, to balance the penetration of large scale renewable energy generation into the NEM.
During the course of the TFS, Genex said it has received significant interest in the Project from a range of funding and financing entities. As a result of the high level of interest, once final costings are completed, Genex will immediately commence project financing activities in order to bring the Project online as soon as possible, with an anticipated target of Q4 2017 to complete the “financial close” process.
Look out for our December printed publication which will include more details on the Kidston project.