The A$14.2bn (£7.4bn) project, being developed by Queensland Hydro, involves building a new upper reservoir, as well as a new dam wall to replace the existing Borumba Dam wall and increase Lake Borumba’s storage capacity from 46 to 224 gigalitres. It will include an underground power station and pump turbines, and underground tunnels to transfer water between the upper and lower reservoirs, as well as cable and access tunnels.
It is one of Queensland’s largest clean energy projects and will have the capacity to generate 2GW of electricity.
Exploratory drilling is under way and construction is scheduled to start in 2025.
Geotechnical investigations are also progressing on Queensland’s Pioneer-Burdekin Pumped Hydro Project. The pumped hydro scheme will have a 5GW capacity.
In September, Queensland Hydro reported that more than 500m of core samples had been collected and logged from 10 sites, and drilling had started on the first deep geotechnical hole.
The technical investigations are expected to continue into early next year.
