Australian energy developer AGL has secured the right to develop, own and operate a 250MW pumped storage project at Hillgrove Resources Limited’s Kanmantoo copper mine in South Australia’s Adelaide Hills region.
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 coming years.”
Wrightson said the signing of binding agreements was the start of a multiple stage process to progress the project, including lodging 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 complete and operating by 2024,” Wrightson said.
