Hydro plant pumps in hundreds of jobs

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The jobs will be available through Mcconnell Dowell and John Holland, who are the contractors for engineering, procurement and construction.

The development, about 270km northwest of Townsville, is being built at a former gold mine site that already has an airstrip.

Electricity will be generated as water falls from the two old mining pits. It will then be pumped back to the upper pit by using power generated by the on-site solar farm.

Mr Kidston said he expected workers to be on the ground by the end of September.

It is expected construction will take three years.

The transmission line from Mount Fox to the site was the final piece of the puzzle for the hydro project to begin.

Mr Kidston said Genex was working with the State Government on having this approved shortly.

AEC Group principal economist Matthew Kelly said the more jobs created the better for Townsville.

“We can certainly see the pipeline of things at the moment and the path to recovery,” he said.

Mr Kelly said although construction jobs did not last forever, they did help keep the economy ticking over.

He said it was vital there were jobs available for Townsville people with projects like the Kidston hydro project.

“You would like to think we are in a geographically good location for that, as well as people having the required skills,” Mr Kelly said.

NAIF chief executive officer Laurie Walker said the Kidston Project investment represented slightly more than 12 per cent of NAIF’S total $5 billion facility.

“Energy storage facilities have a significant role to play in Australia’s transition to a low emissions, low cost energy future,” she said.

“The project will provide far north Queensland with 250MW of firm, dispatchable energy, improving energy reliability while lowering transmission losses and electricity prices.”

Resources and Northern Australia Minister Matt Canavan said this was an exciting project for North Queensland that would create a long-term future for the North’s industries and households.

“It will also help keep downward pressure on household electricity bills for northern households,” he said. “The NAIF is investing in this project because of the importance of affordable and reliable power in developing the North.

“An added bonus of the project is the anticipated 510 jobs created during construction of the project and its supporting transmission line, along with roughly 30 ongoing jobs, and a direct contribution of $235 million to North Queensland’s economy.”