Pumped hydro tenders awarded in Queensland

Queensland Hydro has awarded nearly $190 million in packages for the Borumba Pumped Hydro Project, a major step forward for the 2,000MW renewable energy project. The project will provide the long-duration energy storage needed to reliably transition to Queensland’s future clean energy system.

Queensland Minister for Energy and Clean Economy Jobs, Mick de Brenni, said, “This is a huge milestone for one of Australia’s most important renewable energy projects.

“This major milestone means we have awarded three major works packages to Queensland-based companies to take forward the reservoirs and powerhouse designs.”

Water2Wire JV, a joint venture between leading engineering and design firms GHD, Mott MacDonald, and Stantec, will lead the engineering and design for the Borumba Project’s seven proposed dams. The project involves six new dams to form a new upper reservoir and one new dam wall and spillway immediately downstream from the existing Borumba Dam.

The replacement dam wall will increase Lake Borumba’s capacity, providing security to the proposed energy storage scheme.

The PHES Designer package was awarded to AFRY-Aurecon JV. The package will see AFRY-Aurecon advance the front-end engineering design documentation, focusing on the technical elements of the pumped hydro scheme itself – such as the interplay between the turbines, cavern design, tunnel waterway design and other equipment.

AFRY brings over 125 years of hydropower expertise and hascontributed to implementing more than 60 pumped hydro projects globally since the 1960s. Aurecon has almost a century of experience delivering mega infrastructure projects in Australia and is recognised globally for pioneering revolutionary renewable energy and storage projects for government and industry.

Additionally, an approximately $111 million contract has been awarded to Australian-owned engineering and construction company Decmil to design and construct two temporary workers camps on previously cleared freehold land on the site of the Borumba Project. Decmil provides complex, multidisciplinary project delivery across the infrastructure, resources and renewable energy sectors.

“We’re bringing together local knowledge and global expertise to deliver a nation-defining project to provide cheaper, cleaner and more secure electricity to all Queenslanders,” Mr de Brenni said.

“The transition to renewable energy will see millions of dollars in regional development and investment that will support local economies, provide opportunities for community infrastructure advancements and create thousands of jobs for Queenslanders.”

The best practice camps will be able to house up to 336 workers each, with each location containing a wellness room, gym facility, running track, social room and laundry facilities, making workers on one of Queensland’s most important infrastructure projects feel right at home.

Initial construction will see two camps built onsite to accommodate the immediate needs of the workforce. The two temporary workers’ accommodation camps will be constructed at the same locations to accommodate workers on the Borumba Project.

Queensland Hydro’s CEO, Kieran Cusack, said, “We want our workforce to be safe today and every day. By housing as many workers as possible in state-of-the-art temporary worker camps on-site, we’ll reduce the need for workers to occupy homes or other accommodation within the regions and avoid hundreds of vehicle movements each day.

“Minimising potential traffic and housing impacts is right for the community and our workforce.”

This staged approach to delivery ensures impacts on the community can be reduced now and into the future as the workforce grows.

“Queensland Hydro is well aware of the potential disruption a project of this scale could have on small regional communities, and we are working with them to ensure we get our plans right,” said Mr Cusack.

“In developing our plans, we respect these communities and take lessons from other projects to ensure we are good neighbours. A big part of this is minimising the impact on housing and roads near where we will operate.

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