New projects | j Snowy Hydro expects variable and soft ground
conditions to occur in sections of the very long 17km headrace tunnel. Further ground improvement works – a typical tunnelling process – will be carried out where required so the TBM can safely advance.
Big T
Another new project being developed to support the transition of Australia’s baseload of electricity away from its aging coal generation power plants is the Big-T pumped storage hydropower facility at Lake Cressbrook in southeast Queensland Big-T will consist of a pumped hydro energy
Above: Artist impression of Lake Cressborook in South Queensland - the location of the Big T pumped storage project
storage facility (400MW, 10 hours) and a battery energy storage facility (200MW, 1 hour), enough to power 288,000 homes with renewable energy. Once operational, the plant is expected to deliver significant savings in electricity costs and improve the reliability of supply to consumers and contribute to the Queensland Government’s target of 50% renewable energy generation by 2030. Bechtel has been selected by BE Power and GE Renewable Energy to support the planning for the facility “We are pleased to secure the services of the global construction infrastructure leader Bechtel,” said Scott Walkem, BE Power managing director. “Bechtel has significant expertise in the delivery of power infrastructure including hydropower. Further, Bechtel and GE have a long history of working collaboratively to deliver energy projects.” Bechtel will provide support to the project
development under a service agreement that will include advancing the design; facilitating early contractor cost savings and buildability; advising how to best structure core contracts; and kick-starting supply chain engagement with a view to maximizing local content and indigenous participation. Bechtel’s work will help inform Big-T’s feasibility study, with the final investment decision scheduled for late 2023. If achieved, Bechtel would then go on to engineer, procure, and construct the project. “A sustainable energy future is today’s global goal and energy storage facilities have a significant role in us achieving it,” said Scott Osborne, Bechtel’s general manager for Infrastructure in Asia Pacific. “Big-T will help create renewable energy opportunities for Queenslanders in terms of a more cost effective and reliable energy system, and local job and business opportunities not just in long duration storage but in the broader system it supports.”
Investment There has also been investment made in pumped
storage in the UK. Foresight Energy Infrastructure Partners, Foresight Group’s flagship energy transition fund, announced last month that it had made its first investment in pumped storage hydro technology at a project in Scotland. Located at the disused 1547 acre Glenmuckloch opencast coal mine near Kirkconnel, the project will see the construction of a co-located 1600 MWh capacity pumped storage plant and a 33.6MW wind farm. There have only been five plants like this constructed to date in the UK. The pumped storage plant’s stored energy can be delivered at a rate of 210MW for 8 hours. The site will
24 | November 2022 |
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contain two 105MW reversible hydro-turbines, while the wind farm will consist of 8 x 4.2MW WTGs. It will be able, via a direct connection, to power the pumped storage plant. The project is expected to help with growing
energy security concerns, as well as providing grid support services. Such a plant builds grid resilience by replacing conventional thermal peaking plants, and facilitates the integration of intermittent renewable energy generation technologies. Social benefits include the introduction of a community benefit fund to provide financial support for local community projects, and the creation of two reservoirs will further drive the ecological restoration work being undertaken at the site to remediate the scar on the landscape left by the now defunct coal operations. Commenting on the investment, Richard Thompson, Partner at Foresight said: “Long Duration Energy Storage has a critical role to play in the UK helping to reduce power prices for bill payers, enhancing security of supply and accelerating the road to net zero by enabling the integration of more renewables on the system. “Foresight is delighted to be making its first Long Duration Energy Storage investment in a project that will create such a long lasting environmental legacy through the repurposing of a disused coal mine.”
International projects There have been recent updates on other projects
globally. In India, it has been confirmed that Andritz won a contract from Greenko MP01 IREP Private Limited, for the electromechanical works at the 1440MW Gandhi Sagar pumped storage project in Madhya Pradesh, India. The deal includes design, manufacture, supply, transportation, erection, testing, and commissioning of seven reversible pump units (five 240MW units, two 120MW units), main inlet valves, and associated auxiliaries. The works will be conducted by Andritz’s multiple locations led by its Indian. This is Andritz’s second contract from Greenko, having been awarded the order for the Pinnapuram pumped storage project back in 2020. The new Gandhi Sagar project envisages utilizing
the existing Gandhi Sagar reservoir as a lower reservoir and the construction of an upper reservoir. Over in Estonia, Eesti Energia announced it is carrying out preliminary design and environmental impact assessment for what would be the first pumped storage hydroelectric plant in Estonia. The planned 225MW plant is planned for the industrial area of the Estonia mine in Ida-Virumaa. It’s upper reservoir will be built on a tailings structure, and a closed mine will be used as the lower reservoir. The project is expected to start operating in 2026, “Ensuring Estonia’s energy security and energy independence with our own assets is more important than ever before,” said Margus Vals, a member of the board of Eesti Energia. “In light of the connection to the continental European electricity system, which is planned for 2026 at the latest, it is extremely important that the necessary energy markets and production or storage assets are created in the Baltic States, with which security of supply can be ensured in the greenest and most affordable way possible.” ●
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