Rural community near Mackay will make way for proposed hydro project

Dozens of homes in a rural Queensland community will be resumed if a major state government plan goes ahead. VOTE IN OUR POLL

A small regional town will be wiped off the map to make way for the state government’s renewable energy centrepiece.

And despite confidence from ministers that the critical project would succeed, the state government’s newly created Queensland Hydro entity has been tasked with finding other sites in case the Pioneer-Burdekin plan is “unable to proceed”.

The jewel in the crown of Queensland’s transformative energy plan is the 5GW Pioneer-Burdekin pumped hydro project, located 70km west of Mackay.

The location of a proposed hydro project announced by the State Government on Wednesday. Picture: Queensland Government

The state government had been quick to make assurances that no sections of Eungella National Park would need to be inundated for the project, but did not reveal until Thursday that residents living in 50 homes would need to be relocated.

The proposed area of the lower dam, based on the government’s promotional material, shows part of Mackay-Eungella Rd where the town of Netherdale is located having to be submerged.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk, visiting Mackay on Wednesday as part of the energy plan roadshow, confirmed families would need to be relocated.

The proposed new state government project site.

Energy Minister Mick de Brenni said 20 per cent of the 50 homeowners impacted had been spoken to and engagements had been “positive so far”.

According to the 2021 census 121 people including 35 families live in Netherdale.

“The resumptions that are involved in this are not significant in terms of their numbers and they are commensurate with the other types of infrastructure… for example, significant road projects,” Mr de Brenni said.

“So this is a process that we take seriously though, of course, and we want to be respectful of those landowners.”

One Netherdale woman, who has lived on her property for 60 years, said she was informed late Wednesday night by telephone that her property would need to be resumed to make way for the project, but said she was not surprised by the news.

“It’s been talked about locally for years,” she said.

“We’ve always thought it could happen, but it is progress and we know we need renewable energy.”

But the woman, who asked not to be named, said she doubted the project would come to fruition.

“There have been studies on things like this in the area before, a long time ago, and they’d get to feasibility studies and then they’d scrap them,” she said.

“I’d bet my bottom dollar that is what will happen this time.”

She was not told what compensation would be offered for her land, or that of her son, which combined totals around 400 acres.

Another local resident said he specifically asked about remuneration for his property, but was told his land had not yet been assessed.

The Pioneer-Burdekin pumped hydro project would be the “world’s biggest” according to the state government, and is a major part of achieving its renewable energy targets of 70 per cent by 2032 and 80 per cent by 2035.

It would be 2.5 times larger than New South Wales’ Snowy Hydro 2.0

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk, Mick de Brenni and Steven Miles. Picture: Supplied

According to state government estimates the energy plan as a whole requires $62bn of state, federal and private sector investment.

Ms Palaszczuk said the Pioneer-Burdekin plan itself would cost an estimated $12bn — nearly 20 per cent of the price tag of the energy plan.

A total of $270m has already been committed for the project to be progressed.

The Pioneer-Burdekin proposal is one of two publicly owned pumped hydro projects — alongside the 2GW Borumba Dam proposal in the Wide Bay-Burnett region — set to act as the state’s renewable energy “giant batteries”.

Ms Palaszczuk, in Mackay, announced a government owned company called Queensland Hydro — a breakaway expansion of Powerlink — would be created to take charge of both projects.

Under the proposal stage 1 of the Pioneer-Burdekin project would be up and running by 2032 and stage 2 by 2035, giving the government just under a decade to do all the engineering, environmental and economic studies required, resume land, obtain funding, and also complete construction.

Mr de Brenni said there was “no risk” of the project going awry like the Beattie government’s Traveston Dam, which was ultimately canned due to environmental concerns and public objection.

But despite the confidence, the state government in a press release also highlighted Queensland Hydro would “continue to investigate other large-scale, long-duration pumped hydro sites in the event the project is unable to proceed”.

A detailed assessment of the Pioneer-Burdekin project will be provided to the government, by Queensland Hydro, in 2024 with further studies to be conducted between now and then.

“This will include consultation with traditional owners and the community, hydrological modelling and assessment of environmental and social impacts, as well as commercial and financial modelling,” the statement noted.

Mr de Brenni confirmed the Pioneer-Burdekin pumped hydro project would be a “closed system”, meaning water would come from captured rainfall not a river system.

It is understood the government’s Pioneer-Burdekin pumped hydro project is located about 40km away from the Urannah pumped hydro project, a private proposal being driven by Bowen River Utilities.

Mr de Brenni, asked what the government’s plan meant for the Urannah proposal, signalled they could coexist and that the state was open to “private investment”.