New study timeline released for $12bn Pioneer-Burdekin pumped hydro

The mammoth pumped hydro scheme pegged for the Pioneer Valley is gaining steam, with the first batch of studies due to commence in March 2023. Here’s what the project’s timeline looks like out to 2024.

The mammoth $12bn pumped hydro scheme booked for the Mackay region is slowly moving from rhetoric to reality.

Queensland Hydro, the state-owned entity leading the project, has released a timeline for the project out to 2024, with environmental and geotechnical studies due to commence in March next year across the Pioneer Valley.

Visiting Mackay this week, Queensland Hydro CEO Chris Evans said the exact start date of the studies would depend on co-operation with landowners.

“It requires access onto private land, so we need their permission before we can start the works,” he said.

The project, announced by Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk in September, serves as a linchpin for the government’s plan to shift Queensland onto a renewables base.

If completed, the 5GW system would store and dispatch up to half of the state’s energy needs with renewable energy by 2035.

Pioneer Valley residents have responded to the proposal with fury, with some set to lose their properties to make way for the scheme and others incensed by any perceived disruption to the natural world.

An indicative timeline for the studies into the Pioneer-Burdekin pumped-hydro scheme. Picture: Queensland Hydro

Some business leaders have reacted more positively to the scheme and Mr Evans said he met with more than 50 businesses on Monday morning to outline the opportunities available to them in the coming months.

“The purpose of the meeting was to talk around the works that need to commence in the next three or four months,” he said.

“And really wanting to understand the capability within the Mackay region and how we can package the work such that it can be delivered by Mackay businesses.

“We really want this project to involve Mackay business.”

A timeline of studies released by Queensland Hydro shows five streams of investigations that stretch out from March 2023 to the release of a detailed analytical report in June 2024.

Under the banners of Water, Social and Sustainability, Ecology, Heritage Studies and Geology and Soils, the multitude of studies analyse everything from existing groundwater conditions and options for fish passages to soil types on the project area and vibration impacts that could arise during the construction phase.

Geotechnical investigations and drilling are pegged to begin in March 2023 and last until January 2024.

Originally published as New study timeline released for $12bn Pioneer-Burdekin pumped hydro