Power giant AGL announced it has acquired two early-stage pumped hydro energy storage projects being developed by former Australian prime minister Malcolm Turnbull’s Upper Hunter Hydro (UHH) in the New South Wales (NSW) Hunter region.
The projects, being developed at the Glenbawn and Glennies Creek reservoirs in the Upper Hunter, are to provide 770 MW and 623 MW of capacity respectively with each facility able to deliver approximately 10 hours of dispatchable power. AGL said there is also the potential to integrate wind generation to the mix in the future.
Both projects are in the early development stages and a provisional timeline for their development is being prepared by AGL, including next stages, project approval, construction and when the projects would be operational.
AGL Chief Operating Officer Markus Brokhof said the acquisition of the pumped hydro projects adds new long-duration storage to the company’s development pipeline, a key part of its ambition to add 12 GW of new renewables and firming to its portfolio by 2035.
“It is crucial the future energy system is developed with a spectrum of storage and firming, encompassing short, medium, and long-term storage technologies,” he said.
“Developing pumped hydro energy storage and other synchronous long-duration storage is integral to ensuring reliability and affordability as Australia transitions to a renewable energy system.”
Brokhof said the appeal of pumped hydro is the long technical lifetime of a project, noting this can range between 80 and 100 years.
The Glenbawn and Glennies Creek projects add to the 400 MW / 3,200 MWh Muswellbrook pumped hydro project AGL is already developing in the Hunter, in collaboration with coal miner Idemitsu Australia, the local subsidiary of Japanese petroleum company Idemitsu.
Turnbull, the outgoing Chairman of UHH, said AGL’s financial and technical capability and its existing presence in the Hunter would help drive the development of the Glenbawn and Glennies Creek projects which will provide the firming capacity required to optimise renewables.
“Long-duration storage will play a critical role in Australia’s future energy system, helping to keep the grid reliable by shifting renewable energy to match consumer demand,” he said. “The Glenbawn and Glennies Creek projects are well placed to create jobs and drive investment in the Hunter which plays a pivotal role in the energy transition.”
UHH said the Glenbawn and Glennies Creek projects are located in strong areas of the National Electricity Market and are also well placed to utilise the new transmission capacity being developed as part of the NSW government’s Hunter-Central Coast Renewable Energy Zone.
Brokhof however cautioned that government support will be required to help bring the projects to market.
“AGL is encouraged by the NSW government’s decision to maintain eight-plus hours as the definition for long-duration storage as well as its increased targets for long-duration storage,” he said.
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