Opinion: Final cost of pumped hydro may exceed our wildest estimates

Queenslanders have been denied the chance to ask how a project of such magnitude will impact their hip pockets, writes Michelle Landry.

Labor’s “jewel in the crown” of their renewable energy plan, the Pioneer Burdekin Pumped Hydro project in the Eungella region, is on track to become Queensland’s own version of the Snowy 2.0 debacle.

Energy Minister Mick de Brenni postponed revealing the financial implications of the Pioneer Burdekin Pumped Hydro project to taxpayers until after the October 26 election. This decision deprives Queenslanders of the chance to ask the questions of how such a project of unprecedented magnitude will impact their hip pockets, particularly at a time when cost of living is skyrocketing.

In 2022, then premier Annastacia Palaszczuk unveiled her ambitious proposal to inundate the world’s platypus capital and establish a pumped hydro scheme, the likes of which have never been seen. The initial estimated cost stood at $12 billion. Yet, in under two years, the anticipated cost has surged to an astounding $18 billion for the first stage alone.

This would render it Queensland’s most costly project to date.

To bring this into perspective, the Australian Bureau of Statistics recorded Queensland’s population, as of September last year, to be 5,495,524. Each and every one of those people would have to cough up $3275.39 to pay for this impractical renewable energy scheme.

Additionally, Queensland Hydro has predicted the lifespan of the pumped hydro to be only 100 years. This monolithic structure will require additional renewable energy components, such as the $14.2 billion Borumba Pumped Hydro Project and hundreds of thousands of solar panels and wind turbines to meet the growing energy needs of our state.

The current state Labor government has presided over notable cost overruns and delays in fundamental projects such as roads and healthcare. If they lack the discipline to effectively manage and deliver smaller-scale projects within budget and on schedule, how can they be expected to successfully execute a project touted as the largest in the world?

It’s reasonable to speculate that the final cost of a project of this magnitude could exceed even our wildest estimates.

Initially estimated at $2 billion, the troubled Snowy 2.0 project was slated for completion by 2021. However, ongoing construction and extensive delays have pushed the projected cost to $12 billion. Remarkably, this matches the initial forecast for the Pioneer Burdekin Pumped Hydro project, which is two-and-a-half times the size of the still-under-construction Snowy 2.0.

The expenses associated with these projects, coupled with the extensive transmission infrastructure (a staggering 28,000km of wires costing at least $80 billion), will ultimately be shouldered by consumers. Given the 16 per cent rise in electricity prices during the tenure of the current Albanese Government, it’s evident that the trajectory will persist under their imprudent “renewables only” policy.

Looking to a diversified range of technologies, not ideology, as our energy strategy will be the only way to lower energy costs, enhance our power reliability, decrease emissions and stop the substantial impact to the lives of thousands of rural and regional Australians who bear witness to the extensive destruction of bushland and prime agricultural land.

To gain a comprehensive understanding of the significant impact on our prime agricultural land and pristine natural vegetation, consider this: to meet our renewable energy goals, we would need to install 40 wind turbine every month and 22,000 solar panels every day until 2030.

According to projections from Net Zero Australia, it is estimated that by 2050, the energy required to replace Australia’s fossil fuel exports, in addition to domestic consumption, will require solar farms equivalent in size to five Tasmanias.

Now, more than ever, we must look to the lessons learnt by other developed nations who have learnt the lesson the hard way about investing into unreliable renewable and take stock of newer technologies that will deliver not just clean but reliable base level power.

Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different outcome. Come October, voting for another Labor Government is going to give pass to another four years of wasteful spending on pie-in-the-sky ideas. Particularly ideas which destroy not just the state’s financial bottom line and hurt the hip pockets of each and every Queenslander.

Michelle Landry is LNP federal Member for Capricornia

Originally published as Opinion: Final cost of pumped hydro may exceed our wildest estimates