Genex Power has announced plans to develop a wind farm of upto 150MW in capacity as part of its Kidtson renewable energy hub, being developed on the closed Kidtson gold mine in far north Queensland.
The wind farm project would form the third phase of Genex’s energy hub which integrates large-scale solar and pumped storage hydro technologies.
The initial proposed energy hub consisted of a 50MW solar project, a 250MW pumped storage hydro project and an integrated 270MW solar project. The K3-Wind project represents Genex’s fourth project in its development pipeline.
The company announced on Wednesday that it has reached binding agreements with local landlords with the exclusive option to develop the new wind farm project, which it says could benefit from the naturally elevated topography of the area.
Subject to completion of a feasibility study, it is envisaged that the project will connect into National Electricity Market (NEM) via the proposed new 275kV transmission line at Kidston to be developed as part of the Kidston stage two project.
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“Whilst our immediate focus as a company is to secure project financing for stage two of the Kidtson renewable energy hub (K2-Hydro and K2-Solar), the proposed wind farm should give us diversity across three renewable energy sources at the one site, and would be a world first development of integrated solar, wind and pumped storage hydro technology,” Genex’s managing director, Michael Addison said.
The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) has already provided funds of $8.9 million to support the first phase of the Kidston project. Up to $9 million of ARENA funding is on offer for the second stage.
The Queensland Government is also supporting development of the renewable energy hub. The state will provide a 20-year revenue support deed for KS1 through the Solar 150 Program.