Toowoomba Regional Council votes to release previously confidential Cressbrook pumped hydro costs

The pumped hydro scheme will bulldoze 153ha of eucalypt forest and drain about 8 per cent of Cressbrook’s capacity. Despite the impacts ratepayers have been kept in the dark about how much of our money will be spent on the project.

The Toowoomba Regional Council has voted to release costing information related to the Cressbrook Dam pumped hydro scheme. Picture David Clark Photography

Ratepayers will soon learn how much of their money will be spent on the Cressbrook pumped hydro project after the Toowoomba Regional Council move to release financial details that were previously marked commercial-in-confidence.

The government-owned Stanwell Corporation is currently in the process of purchasing the Cressbrook Dam pumped hydro energy storage scheme from BE Power, after receiving approval from the previous Labor government to start negotiations before the 2024 election.

When complete it will store about 6.4GL of water for release during periods of peak power demand, to generate about 400MW.

This amounts to about 8 per cent of Cressbrook Dam’s capacity.

The construction phase is expected to generate about 350 jobs and require clearing 156 hectares eucalypt forest, most of which is a suitable koala habitat.

Despite the wider implications of the project, very little information has been released to the public.

At a council meeting on Tuesday, deputy mayor Rebecca Vonhoff proposed a motion to make public the project’s cost to the council.

“There have been several requests for reports to be separated so that information not involving the commercial aspects of the project be made available to the public or that parts of the reports be redacted to ensure transparency,” she said.

The motion passed unanimously with the partially redacted information set to be released on April 15.

“The difficulty with a project like this, as section of the Local Government Act states, is that there are provisions to make sure it is kept confidential to not prejudice either party,” Ms Vonhoff said.

“But there are parts of this project, like the ratepayers’ money that is being spent on it, that can and should be taken out and made public.

“As much information that can be made public should be made public.

“I think it is really the right thing to do, Cressbrook Dam belongs to residents and it uses residents’ money.”

Ms Vonhoff has previously raised her concerns about the project’s environmental impact.

“I have voted against the project based on the information presented to us to date,” she said.

Queensland Treasurer and Energy Minister David Janetzki said the project was in the early stages of negotiations.

“We have committed to progressing smaller, more manageable pumped hydro projects and I am following Cressbrook developments closely,” he said.