A major renewable energy storage project to shore up Broken Hill's power supply has been given a multi-million dollar boost to help it progress to the next phase.
Key points:
- The federal government recently approved a conditional $45 million grant
- The company will need to acquire a disused mine site for the project
- The storage facility is expected to create 70 jobs during its operation
The federal government has pledged a conditional $45 million grant towards the compressed air energy storage project in outback New South Wales.
It will be used to store wind or solar energy that has been converted into compressed air for use as a back-up energy source for the town.
Headed by Canadian-based energy storage facility developer, Hydrostor, Origination and Development vice president Martin Becker said the grant allowed the project to progress to the next stage.
"It validates the project as viable commercially, deployable, [and] obviously the funding helps in terms of our construction of the project," he said.
"There's still a lot of work in play with a project like this."
He said Hydrostor had submitted its scoping reports to the government and "we've had responses".
"There'll be further announcements that will come out over the course of the next weeks, months, and they'll all be exciting announcements to make in terms of the further developments of the project," Mr Becker said.
The compressed air storage facility project was also expected to create about 250 jobs during construction and an additional 70 during operation.
Key goals to be met
The conditional grant requires the company to show that key goals are being achieved according to a timeline.
Mr Becker said one of the key components for the storage facility and one of the next major steps for the project was the acquisition of a disused mine site.
Broken Hill is currently supplied by one 260-kilometre transmission line from Buronga.
If power to the Silver City is cut, two diesel generators will fire up and supply the area with electricity.
The compressed air storage facility is designed to act as an environmentally cleaner way to back up Broken Hill's power supply.
Energy provider Transgrid, who identified Hydrostor to lead the development, thanked the government for the conditional grant.
Executive general manager Marie Jordan said the project would supply the entirety of the Silver City with enough power to last for hours at a time.
Hydrostor has also used the same technology to develop a compressed air storage facility in California.