Some of Victoria’s key former gold and coal mining centres have been revealed as the latest focus of the state Labor government’s renewable energy plans, with the announcement of $1 million fund to support the development of community renewables hubs, and to investigate the potential for solar and pumped hydro storage.
The Andrews government said on Wednesday that it has set aside $900,000 for three, two-year pilot Community Power Hubs, in Bendigo, Ballarat and the Latrobe Valley.
State energy minister Lily D’Ambrosio said the hubs would support the development of renewable energy projects by providing legal and technical expertise, as well as start-up funding. Eligible projects could include solar gardens and community wind farms, with expressions of interest now open to host a Community Power Hub.
On top of this, another $100,000 would be dedicated to a feasibility study into whether Bendigo’s empty mine shafts could be used to generate and store renewable energy.
The potential for disused mine infrastructure to be repurposed for renewable energy generation and storage is generating considerable interest in Australia, particularly off the back of the progress of Genex Power’s Kidston solar and pumped hydro project in Queensland, that is being developed at an old gold mine site.
In Victoria, the feasibility study will be supported by an additional $50,000 for the City of Greater Bendigo to investigate the viability of using solar powered pumped hydro to generate and store electricity.
According to the Andrews government, early calculations suggest a pumped hydro and solar facility in the region could generate up to 784kWh – boosting the reliability of the local power grid, creating local jobs and supporting the growth of local businesses.
It would also have the potential to provide around the clock electricity supply and make Bendigo a net exporter of renewable energy, the government said.
“Interest in community energy projects has increased significantly over the years, with communities wanting greater control over their energy and associated costs,” said D’Ambrosio in a statement on Wednesday.
“Solar pumped hydro has the potential to store and generate significant amounts of energy. This feasibility study is the first key step towards realising the benefits of solar pumped hydro for the Bendigo region.”
Local environmental group Friends of the Earth welcomed the new fund, and said it hoped the government would build on this “positive first step” by ensuring the Latrobe Valley – home to the recently shuttered Hazelwood coal-fired power station – gets a slice of investment under the Victorian Renewable Energy Target.
“The Andrews government can secure jobs and investment for the Latrobe Valley by ensuring it gets a slice of the Victorian Renewable Energy Target,” said FoE renewables spokesperson, Pat Simons.
“The Latrobe Valley has a long history in power generation. The region is well placed for solar, wind, and energy storage projects to boost jobs and help the state meet its ambitious renewables target.”
Sophie is editor of One Step Off The Grid and deputy editor of its sister site, Renew Economy. Sophie has been writing about clean energy for more than a decade.
This post was published on April 12, 2017 11:16 am
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"According to the Andrews government, early calculations suggest a pumped hydro and solar facility in the region could generate up to 784kWh – boosting the reliability of the local power grid, creating local jobs and supporting the growth of local businesses."
This number is in the Government MR too. Is it a mis-print by any chance? 784 kWh is hardly a big capacity if a project is going to invest in turbines. Prof Blackers, ANU proposes 100-200MW dual turkey nest dam PHES projects the length of the Great Dividing range offering specs of 100-200 MW and five hours storage (200MW x 5hr = 1,000 MW or 1,000,000 kWh storage c.f. 784 MWh for this).
That's actually not very much storage compared to what you'd get with a pair of turkey nest dams, one on top of an already land-cleared high hill on a range, the other at the bottom of the range not too far away (you want to minimise distance to minimise energy loss from friction in the pipes).
Andrew Blakers says there are thousands of sites on the Great Dividing Range with 100MW type power capacity and many hours storage each. This example @13:00 in the video is in Shoalhaven (off-river) and has a 200MW output and 10,000,000kWh storage (c.f. 784kWh). I'm wondering if that's a typo in the Media Release then number is so small, would serve about 100-200 houses basically.
Hazelwood or anywhere in the Valley near the mountains would be a much more suitable location to serve Melbourne with grid scale storage, though obviously that site is close to Bendigo/Central region which also isn't that far from the GDR.
https://vimeo.com/143211412