A major milestone has been reached at the Kidston Pumped Storage Project (PSP) in Queensland, Australia. At the end of April 2025, the spiral case and stay ring assembly for Unit 2 were successfully lifted and positioned on-site. This important achievement is a significant step forward in the installation works and reflects the project team’s strong commitment to quality, safety, and engineering excellence.

Kidston is Australia’s first pumped storage hydropower project in more than 40 years—and the first ever developed by the private sector. Once completed, it will be the third largest electricity storage facility in the country, strengthening grid stability and supporting Australia’s clean energy transition. Designed as a co-located solar and pumped storage plant, Kidston will be the first of its kind globally, delivering “renewable energy on tap.”

ANDRITZ, a global leader in hydropower technology, is supplying the complete electromechanical equipment for the pumped storage part of this groundbreaking project. Since signing the contract in 2021, ANDRITZ has been working closely with EPC contractors John Holland and McConnell Dowell to help move the project forward. The successful placement of the first of two spiral cases is a testament to meticulous planning, precise engineering, and close collaboration between on-site teams and ANDRITZ technical advisors.

Located at the site of a former gold mine—once Australia’s largest—the Kidston PSP ingeniously utilizes two huge mining pits with significant elevation difference for pumped storage operation. The upper and lower reservoirs (Wises and Eldridge) form a closed-loop system, minimizing water consumption while providing 2,000 MWh of storage capacity—enough to power around 280,000 homes or take 33,000 cars off the road each year.

The plant will house two 125 MW reversible pump-turbines that will operate efficiently despite the special challenges posed by the natural topography. With a head variation of about 3 m only of the upper reservoir, and a level variation of the lower water reservoir by about 40 m, the high-performance equipment from ANDRITZ is engineered to deliver reliable and continuous power in eight-hour cycles.

Beyond generation capacity, pumped storage plants play a crucial role in enabling variable renewable energy sources like solar and wind by providing dispatchable and synchronous energy. They also provide critical ancillary services including grid inertia, voltage and frequency control, and black start capability, ensuring the long-term stability and resilience of the national grid.

Set against the dramatic backdrop of Far North Queensland’s outback, Kidston represents a flagship initiative for Australia’s clean energy future. It showcases the innovative reuse of old mining infrastructure to create a sustainable energy asset of national significance. We celebrate this installation milestone and look forward to further progress and success as the project nears completion.

In 2021, ANDRITZ also signed a long-term operations and maintenance agreement directly with Genex Power, the owner of the Kidston pumped storage plant. We're proud to be part of this landmark project, helping to build a cleaner, more sustainable energy future.