Minister for Employment and Small Business Di Farmer and Assistant Minister for Hydrogen Development Lance McCallum are taking a tour of the Genex Kidston Hydro Storage Project.
The project is expected to play a significant role in creating jobs in Far North Queensland while creating renewable energy for the region.
Farmer said the Queensland Energy and Jobs Plan sets the foundation for the success of the Kidston pumped storage project, creating approximately 900 jobs and helping power new jobs in North Queensland’s regional industries.
The storage project is building a 250-MW pumped storage hydroelectric power generation facility using the old Kidston Gold Mine’s upper and lower pits, the minister explained.
“The project has been made possible through the Queensland Government’s investment of $147 million in transmission infrastructure to connect the project to a 186-kilometre transmission line from Kidston to Mount Fox near Ingham, creating 400 jobs,” Farmer said.
Construction of the pumped hydro project is expected to establish 500 jobs. It will also serve as an important step in the rollout of large-scale energy storage capability to enable more renewable energy to come into the national electricity market.
“To make the most of opportunities like the Kidston Hydro Project, we need to ensure Queensland has the right workers in the right places to take advantage of these opportunities and we have plans in place to make that happen,” Farmer added.
The hydro project and its associated transmission infrastructure are expected to go live and feed into the national electricity market by early 2025.
McCallum said the Queensland Energy and Jobs Plan sets the framework for pumped hydro to help build a future of cheaper, cleaner, and secure energy for Queenslanders.
“As we race towards 70% renewable energy in Queensland by 2032, pumped hydro provides the firming capacity needed to power good jobs in new regional industries,” Assistant Minister McCallum said.
“The experts agree that high global fossil fuel markets are driving record prices in our energy system, pumped hydro and renewable energy allows us to break away and stand on our own two feet. Importantly under our plan, the power will not go out, because it’s a plan that serves people, not profits,” he added.
