Referral summary · EPBC Act Public Portal

Summary
Decision notices
EPBC Number
Person or organisation proposing to take the action
Industry type
Jurisdiction
Location
Project description
<p><strong>Overview</strong></p><p>The Mt Rawdon Pumped Hydro Project is a joint venture between Mt Rawdon Operations Pty Ltd (a wholly owned subsidiary of Evolution Mining Ltd), as the current owner and operator of the Mt Rawdon gold mine, and ICA Investment Services Pty Ltd as trustee for the Mt Rawdon Energy Trust, a wholly owned subsidiary of ICA Partners Pty Ltd, who bring expertise in renewable energy development and financing. Kilometre&nbsp;</p><p>The pumped hydro project is located 75 km southwest of Bundaberg and approximately 20 km southeast of Mount Perry (see Attachment #1, Att A - Figures, Figure 1, page 2). The study area for the transmission line is shown in Figure 2.&nbsp;</p><p>The pumped hydro project involves the creation of a pumped hydro electricity generation plant through repurposing the pit created by the existing Mt Rawdon gold mine. The Project will store excess electricity generated by variable forms of renewable generation (such as solar photovoltaic and wind power), by using it to pump water to the upper storage and releasing it back into the grid (by release to the lower storage) at times of high electricity demand or low renewable electricity generation. In this way, the Project will help to facilitate increasing levels of renewable energy generation, while also being able to provide ancillary services to assist with grid stability and will provide a portion of the 9 to 16 GW of dispatchable electricity that the Australian Energy Market Operator has forecast in the 2020 Integrated System Plan as likely to be needed by 2040.&nbsp;</p><p>The facility is likely to have an energy storage capacity of up to 20,000 MWh, allowing for up to 40 hours of continuous generation at 500 MW/hr, 20 hours of continuous generation at 1,000 MW/hr or 10 hours of generation at 2,000MW/hr. The final configuration and staging will be driven by market demand.&nbsp;</p><p><strong>Key Components</strong></p><p>The Project has been split into two EPBC referrals comprised of the Transmission Line (this referral) and the Hydro Power Generation Facility (see referral 2022/09284). This referral relates only the Transmission Line and will be referred to as the Project from this point on.</p><p>The main components of the Project include the following (see Attachment #1, Att A - Figures, Figure 2, page 3):</p><ul><li>A Transmission Line (Mt Rawdon to&nbsp;Morganville 275kV transmission line) to link the Generation Facility to Powerlink’s existing transmission network.</li><li>A substation directly opposite the existing 275KV transmission line to connect electricity from the project to the grid.</li></ul><p>This referral is undertaken on the basis that the final alignment of the transmission line and substation, and disturbance and avoidance areas, will be selected from within the study area identified in section 2 of this application.&nbsp;</p><p><strong>Potential Impacts</strong></p><p>The construction phase of the proposed transmission line has the potential to have impacts on listed threatened species and communities and migratory species. While the study area for the transmission line has been selected to minimise environmental impacts, the transmission line corridor will be approximately 26km in length and up to 100m in width and is likely to involve some vegetation clearing both within this 260ha area and possibly also outside of that corridor to create construction and operational access and temporary construction facilities such as laydown areas.&nbsp;</p><p>The disturbance footprint for the infrastructure within the corridor is likely to comprise - for a single transmission line - approximately 7.045ha (being approximately 58 towers, each of which will have a footing of 525m2 and a substation with an approximate area of 4ha), plus any disturbance required for access and temporary works which will be preferentially located in cleared areas and, in the case of temporary works, rehabilitated following the end of construction. If two transmission lines are required, the disturbance area will increase by in the order of an additional 3.045ha.</p><p>The location of the final disturbance footprint, will be chosen, from within the study area identified in section 2 of this application, based on the outcomes of environmental surveys and consultation with affected landholders.&nbsp;</p><p>In addition to the impacts associated with clearing of vegetation, other potential impacts include:</p><ul><li>Increased dust emissions as a result of clearing and vehicles using the access roads, which may impact adjacent vegetation;</li><li>Increased runoff from disturbed areas with potential for increased sediment loads in runoff if not controlled through use of sediment control structures, which may impact water quality through elevated sediment concentrations and/or may impact vegetation due to sediment deposition;</li><li>Increased noise resulting from construction activities.</li></ul>
Project map

Decisions related with this referral

There are no records to display.
You don't have permissions to view these records.
Error completing request.
Project map

Decisions related with this referral

Supporting documents related with Project will be displayed here
