FAQs

Understanding the project

The project is located predominantly on private land in the Armidale Regional Local Government Area, approximately 60km southeast of Armidale and 70km northwest of Kempsey, via the Kempsey-Armidale Road.

The site is bordered by the Macleay River to the west and Carrai Tablelands to the east.
Oxley Wild Rivers National Park, Carrai National Parks and Carrai Conservation Area surround the site, with the New England National Park approximately 1km to the north-west.

Pumped hydro is a type of energy storage. It works by connecting two reservoirs, one at the top of a hill and one at the bottom, via tunnels. When there’s excess or low-cost energy available (for example in the middle of a sunny and windy day), water can be pumped from the bottom to the top reservoir and stored for later use.

Then, when needed, water from the top reservoir can be released through a tunnel to drive a turbine and generate electricity.

Pumped hydro can use surplus energy that would otherwise be wasted. And it can fill the gaps when supply is scarce, maintaining the reliability and stability of our electricity system.

Please see our Project page for an overview of how pumped hydro technology works.

It will bring much-needed, long-duration storage and reliability to the National Electricity Market, generating up to 900 MW of electricity and storing enough water for up to eight hours of dispatchable energy at full generation for 100+ years.  

At 900 MW for 8 hours, the project would generate up to 7.2 GWh which is enough to power over 600,000 homes.

Oven Mountain Pumped Hydro will be connected to the existing transmission network via new overhead high voltage transmission lines. If the project is approved, the new transmission line will link the generation site to the existing Armidale-Kempsey transmission.

It’s a remote site – located approximately 60km from the nearest large regional centre, and, because of the typography, there will be no visual impact to local townships.

The project is located off the Macleay River and as such will be an 'off river' (or 'closed loop') scheme. This means that once filled, the project will have little additional need for water over its operational life.

Water from the Macleay River will be used for the initial fill - a one-off event during the construction period. This fill will only take place under high river flow conditions and is expected to utilise a small percentage of total river flow.

Small amounts of top-up water may be required periodically to make up for any seepage and evaporation from the reservoirs.

Project stage and approvals

The project is at an advanced stage of development, and we aim to commence construction around mid-2025, pending final planning approval from state and Commonwealth governments. A detailed timeline can be found on our Project page.

For the full list of reports submitted to the NSW Government please visit this link. This includes reports and documentation associated with the Environmental Impact Statement, the Response to Submissions Report and the Amendment Report.

Two formal approvals are required. First, the NSW Minister for Planning and Public Spaces must approve the project. This decision will be published on the NSW Government’s Major Projects website following the Minister’s determination.

Second, the Commonwealth Minister for the Environment’s must approve the project, including any conditions of approval, under the EPBC Act. It will then be published on the EBPC Public Portal.

If the project is approved, we aim to start construction in 2025.

Community

It’s anticipated the project will create 800 jobs during construction spanning a wide range of skills and activities. Once operational, up to 95 direct and indirect jobs will be required to support the pumped hydro site over its 100+ year life span.

The project has identified works packages ranging from transport and logistics, administration, and communications, to major civil, underground construction and utilities.

To register your interest in the project, please visit the project’s page on the ICN Gateway (note: this will take you to an external website).

You can also register your interest to contribute to the project via our Work with us page.

Stay connected

Our team welcomes all feedback we receive. You can reach our team in several ways: