The Queensland premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, says she has had preliminary conversations with the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, seeking federal backing for plans to build the world’s largest pumped hydroelectricity project in the state’s north.
Palaszczuk was in Mackay on Thursday to unveil details about the proposed Pioneer-Burdekin project, which will take about a decade to plan and build.
She said the 5GW project was the “centrepiece” of the Queensland energy plan announced Wednesday, which envisages large-scale construction of renewables and the early closure of coal-fired generators. Under the plan, reliance on burning coal would cease by about 2035.
However the Pioneer-Burdekin project remains in the very early stages and still requires significant planning and funding. The government said while it was confident the proposal is viable, it would continue to assess potential backup options.
The estimated cost for the project is $12bn. The Queensland government is yet to commit any money, though the project would probably not begin construction until 2025 at the earliest.
It is expected the state would seek a significant federal contribution to the construction cost. “I’ve had very preliminary first conversations with the prime minister, and I know how much he is interested in nation-building infrastructure,” Palaszczuk said.
Queensland Hydro, the new government entity designated to build the project, is expected to complete detailed geotechnical and environmental studies in 2024.
In the meantime, the organisation will “also continue to investigate other large-scale, long-duration pumped hydro sites in the event the project is unable to proceed,” a government statement said.
On Thursday Palaszczuk and the state’s energy minister, Mick de Brenni, said about 50 homes would be inundated under the plans, which involve the construction of three reservoirs. Negotiations will need to be conducted with the land owners and with Indigenous traditional owners.
Environmental groups have largely welcomed the state’s renewable ambitions outlined in the energy plan. But some have also raised concern about the impacts of projects like the Pioneer-Burdekin.
The Mackay Conservation Group on Thursday said it was concerned about the local environmental impacts of the project.
“All of the water in the Pioneer catchment is already fully allocated for farmers, drinking water, and environmental flows,” said the group’s coordinator, Peter McCallum.
“There simply is no available unallocated water to operate a pumped hydro scheme under the Pioneer valley water plan. One of these stakeholders will have to suffer.
“We are also very concerned about the impacts that any clearing for the project will have on the iconic Eungella national park which is one of the jewels in the crown for Mackay biodiversity and tourism.”
Palaszczuk said part of the attraction of the site west of Mackay was that farmland and cane fields – rather than national parks – would be inundated to create the reservoirs.
She described the project as “the battery of the north”.
The hydro scheme would have an effective storage capacity 617 times larger than South Australia’s Hornsdale battery. It would be designed to generate power and support the grid at times when wind and solar were unproductive.
De Brenni said the government wanted to be respectful of landowners whose properties would need to be acquired for the project.
“The resumptions that are involved in this are not significant in terms of their numbers and they are commensurate with the other types of infrastructure … for example, significant road projects,” he said.
