Genex says it has achieved financial close for its pumped hydro power station at the old Kidston mine near Einasleigh.
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Genex told the ASX Friday it had achieved the milestone with the help of a $610m 15-year loan from the Northern Australia Infrastructure Fund, a $47m grant from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) and a $3m loan from the Clean Energy Finance Corporation.
GENEX CEO James Harding said the Etheridge Shire project was now fully funded and they would work to finalise outstanding conditions before beginning construction by end of April.
"Following the execution of the construction documentation for the Kidston Pumped Storage Hydro Project we have now executed all outstanding finance documents and secured all of the funding required to construct the project," Mr Harding said.
Situated at an old gold mine at Kidston, the clean energy hub will integrate large-scale solar generation with a pumped hydro storage.
The 50MW Stage 1 solar project is already operational and the pumped hydro will add 250MW to the mix with potential for further multi-stage wind and solar projects.
The four year construction project will see Genex will pump water between two former gold mining pits to drive turbines.
There will be more than 500 jobs will be created on site, with another 400 workers needed to build a 200km high-voltage transmission line to feed a new substation at Mt Fox.
Pumped hydro storage uses electric power systems for load balancing.
The method stores energy in the form of gravitational potential energy of water, pumped from a lower elevation reservoir to a higher elevation in low peak periods.
During periods of high electrical demand, the stored water is released through turbines to produce electric power.
The system increases revenue by selling more electricity during periods of peak demand, when electricity prices are highest.
The Snowy 2.0 is the largest proposed Pumped Hydro Storage project in Australia.
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