The times they are a changin’

Newstan Colliery pumped Hydro trial gets the nod and Centennial Coal’s closed Fassifern coal mine could be converted into a pumped hydro energy storage facility, with funding announced to undertake a technical feasibility study.

Works at the underground Fassifern coal mine ceased in 2014 after 125 years of operation, leaving a grid connection and excavated voids that could store water as part of a pumped hydro system. An open mine pit at ground level and void near the surface that could be repurposed as an upper reservoir, with a deep cavern at the coal seam acting as the lower reservoir.

Pumped hydro is seen as a key technology to provide the energy storage needed to support a future electricity system with more renewable energy.

Reusing the Newstan Colliery’s existing underground mine and site infrastructure is expected to reduce the cost of establishing a pumped hydro system and provide a blueprint for the development of other brownfield sites.

This project will explore the potential to utilise Centennial’s existing assets of land, geographic proximity to infrastructure, gas and underground mining voids to provide large scale energy storage and dispatchable generation in the future.

Image by hangela from Pixabay