New 12-hour pumped hydro project seeks approval, potentially alongside big four-hour battery

An 800 megawatt (MW) pumped hydro project proposed for development across five properties and two shires northwest of Biloela in Queensland has appeared in the public portal for the federal Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act.

According to the referral documents, the closed-loop pumped hydropower energy storage scheme, called the Big-G PHES, would have a planned generating capacity of up to 800 MW and the ability to provide up to 12 hours of continuous energy generation.

The developers, BE Power in collaboration with Lombardi Engineering, have referred the estimated $2.3 billion project for assessment under the EPBC Act, to see if federal environmental approval is required.

“The Big G project is a large-scale pumped hydro energy storage (PHES) project strategically located near Mount Alma in Gladstone, Queensland, within the Renewable Energy Zone 6 (REZ6),” the project’s website says.

“The site was specifically selected for its natural topography, which offers a significant height differential of 290 meters between two reservoirs spaced just 1.75 kilometers apart.

“This allows for highly efficient energy storage and generation, maximising gravitational potential energy without the need for extensive infrastructure.”

Image source: BE Power

The documents say the project has been designed on a modular basis with the ability to operate as a single 800 MW project or two 400 MW projects with separate upper reservoirs and a single shared lower reservoir.

The plan is for the electricity from the project to be supplied to the Queensland grid via a new privately owned transmission line, with two options for this being currently under negotiation with network company Powerlink.

“As such, both options are included in the proposed action for assessment. BE Power is also investigating including a Battery Energy Storage System (‘BESS’) on the site, likely 400MW for up to 4 hours,” the documents say.

BE Power, an Australian based renewables group, has also been co-developing the Big-T pumped hydro project, also in Queensland, which proposes to generate 400 MW of continuous electricity for 10 hours per day, with plans to add a big battery with a capacity of 200 megawatt hours (MWh).

The Big-T project has so far been co-developed by BE Power and GE Renewable energy, but Queensland government-owned coal generator Stanwell Corporation last year agreed to buy BE Power’s stake in the project and – in partnership with an unspecified “established global pumped hydro operator” – progress the project to a final investment decision.

Up until the change of government in Queensland late last year, the state had some very big, publicly funded plans for pumped hydro, including the Pioneer-Burdekin project, which had been deemed critical by the then Labor government for storing energy and stabilising the grid.

That project – accused of huge cost blowouts – was one of the first to go under the newly elected Crisafulli LNP government, which instead favours less capital-intensive plans for smaller pumped hydro projects to be added to the Sunshine State’s growing renewable energy mix.