‘Need this’: Contentious energy build divides

The Greens have spoken up for the first time about Australia’s largest renewable energy project, declaring their “in principle” support for the controversial $12bn Pioneer Burdekin pumped hydro scheme.

The 5GW system, booked for the Mackay region in North Queensland, has triggered furious passions since its sudden announcement by former Labor premier Annastacia Palaszczuk in September 2022.

The scheme underpins Queensland Labor’s ambition to reconfigure the state’s energy system and move it onto a renewables base, with the pumped hydro plant set to store and dispatch renewable energy around the state as coal-fired power declines.

But the proposal has infuriated locals, some of whom see it as a threat to the delicate ecosystem of Mackay’s Pioneer Valley, and state and federal LNP politicians have promised to scrap the plan.

Federal Opposition Leader Peter Dutton trashed the project in a visit to Mackay, calling it a “thought bubble” from the former premier, and state LNP leader David Crisafulli has labelled the scheme a “hoax”.

‘Need this’: Contentious energy build divides

Local conservationists, including the influential Mackay Conservation Group, have also expressed concern about the possible impact of the scheme on the environment.

But Queensland Greens senator Larissa Waters told NCA NewsWire this week that the party backed the project “in principle” as a means to meet renewable energy targets and address the “climate crisis”.

“Like any project, renewable energy must be subject to a comprehensive, consultative and evidence-based assessment of its social, cultural and environmental impacts,” she said.

“The Greens support the project in principle because we need this scale of storage to meet our renewable energy targets and address the climate crisis with the urgency required.

“We support this sort of large-scale publicly owned energy storage, though we do have concerns about the government’s failure to consult properly with the local community and particularly the local traditional owners.

“Furthermore, should significant new, compelling information about unacceptable ecological, cultural or social impacts emerge, then we would of course reconsider our support.”

Greens leader Adam Bandt, who runs the party’s climate change and energy portfolio, also declined to rule out the project, telling NCA NewsWire that he would wait for the environmental approvals process to play out before coming to a decision.

“The Greens want to see an expansion of renewable energy alongside green storage, including battery and pumped hydro, to get our country off expensive and dirty coal and gas,” he said.

“Like all projects, renewable energy and storage must go through proper environmental assessment processes to determine whether they are the right fit for the location, alongside community consultation to ensure locals can have a say and hear the benefits of the project.

“The Queensland Greens have been pushing Labor on a review to the state’s planning act that ensures better community consultation and environmental assessments on renewable projects.”

Pioneer Burdekin is part of a larger $62bn spend to transform Queensland into a state fuelled by renewables.

Energy Minister Mick de Brenni said the investment would help businesses inoculate themselves from global price shocks while also addressing climate change concerns.

“(To) Decouple our state, the businesses, those big electricity users from those global price shocks, we need to move to a fuel system that is based on fuel that Queenslanders own and one that is low emissions as well,” he said.

Anthony Albanese also backs the project, calling it “visionary” on a 2023 whistlestop tour of Mackay.

“I think the state government has outlined quite a visionary program and I look forward to having further discussions with the state government about how the federal government can support them,” the Prime Minister said at the time.

The scheme, which is run by public entity Queensland Hydro, would be the world’s largest pumped hydro system.

An indicative $12bn figure has been attached to the project, but the final cost will hang on extensive environmental and design work, which is expected to be concentrated into a first report for the government in mid 2024.

Mr de Brenni said a decision on the project might push out beyond the state election, booked for October.

Labor is confronting a swell of discontent in the Mackay hinterlands over the project, which involves constructing two upper reservoirs and linking them to a lower reservoir in the township of Netherdale with tunnels and an underground power station.

Multiple homes and properties would be resumed to make way for the build.

Grassroots opposition to the scheme has concentrated into a Facebook community group called Save Eungella that counts nearly 6000 followers.

Alongside Pioneer Burdekin, the government is building a 2GW pumped hydro system at Lake Borumba near Gympie in the southeast.

The Borumba scheme has a price tag of $14.2bn.