BTS | SHAFTS/KIDSTON PUMPED STORAGE PROJECT
FROM GOLD MINE TO HYDROELECTRICITY – KIDSTON PUMPED STORAGE PROJECT
At the annual joint BTS and MinSouth meeting, held on 9 February at the Institution of Civil Engineers, in London, Clare Önal – a Principal Engineer with the tunnels team of Mott MacDonald – gave a presentation on the conversion of an abandoned gold mine at Kidston in Queensland, Australia, to a pumped storage hydroelectric (PSH) scheme. Andrew Hindmarch, Senior Principal Tunnel Engineer of Mott MacDonald was the rapporteur
In a packed Godfrey-Mitchell Theatre, at the ICE headquarters in central London, Clare Önal gave details to the gathering on how the Kidston pumped storage hydroelectric (PSH) project, in Australia, was progressing. She also explained how the project is intended by developer Genex Power Ltd to be operated.
PROJECT BACKGROUND The nearest major town to the Kidston pumped storage scheme is at Townsville, 270km away (about a six-hour drive). The disused surface mine complex is being re- purposed as a PSH and clean energy hub accompanied by wind farms and solar farms. Alluvial gold was officially discovered at the
Copperfield River in 1907 (though maybe that is when word leaked out) and the township of Kidston grew from those beginnings.
When the alluvial deposits of gold ran out, excavation
started with open pit mining from 1981 till 2001. The ore deposit was eventually reported as being over 40 million tonnes with an average grade of 1.8g/tonne. With the mine now abandoned, the energy vision for the open pit is for it to form the lower reservoir of the PSH project.
Pumped Storage Systems PSH systems can only operate with very specific topography that requires large water bodies at high and low elevations. The hydroelectric systems exploit the height – or
‘head’ – difference between the elevations to have water fall from the high level to the low, and on the way passing through turbines attached to generators. When bi-directional turbines are used, these are pump- turbines capable of pumping water from the lower reservoir back to the upper reservoir.
Above, figure 1: Wises Pit (lower reservoir) and Eldridge Pit (upper reservoir) ALL IMAGES COURTESY OF MOTT MACDONALD 10 | September 2023
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33
