A PROPOSED pumped hydro project near Yetholme has received an almost $9.5 million boost from the NSW Government in what the developer says is "a sign of immense confidence in our plans".
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The project is still facing opposition, though, as an electronic petition collects signatures against it.
NSW Treasurer Matt Kean announced on Friday morning that the Yetholme proposal was one of five pumped hydro projects - at stages ranging from "feasibility" to "procurement" - that would receive a total of almost $45 million in recoverable grants.
The money will need to be paid back to the government if the project reaches "financial close", according to Mr Kean.
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The NSW Government says the Yetholme project will receive a grant of $9.44 million to help the developer, ATCO, with upfront costs.
ATCO's managing director of global renewables Karen Nielsen said the company was "thrilled that the NSW Government has recognised our Central West Pumped Hydro Project as a key asset to underpin the state's future energy security".
She said the proposed project would support the state's "peaking and capacity demands as renewables meet an increasingly larger share of the National Electricity Market's energy needs" and said the recoverable grant from the NSW Government "is a sign of immense confidence in our plans for the next 60 years and beyond".
"The leadership of NSW and the Electricity Infrastructure Roadmap is instrumental to fostering investment certainty and enabling the private sector to build infrastructure that is needed. It has been a game-changer," she said.
ATCO, a global company based in Canada that has been operating in Australia for about 65 years, is proposing the construction of a reservoir at the top of Mount Tennyson, near Yetholme, and another in a nearby valley as part of the pumped hydro project.
It says water will be pumped to an upper reservoir, stored there and then the water will be released to generate energy at the times of the day it is most needed.
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The Friends of the Fish River launched an electronic petition against the project in mid-August and has been critical of many aspects of the proposal, including what it says is the unsustainable volumes of water that will need to be drawn from the Fish River, the 42 endangered species of plants and animals that have the potential to be at the site and what it says is ATCO's "refusal to confirm that only renewable energy would be used to power the project".
Friends of the Fish River also says the site that is proposed to host the pumped hydro project's bottom dam "is full of thousands of mature native trees".
As well, a public meeting of unhappy citizens at O'Connell about a month ago discussed the Yetholme proposal.
ATCO estimates 200 construction jobs will be created from the pumped hydro project near Yetholme and there will be another 30 jobs ongoing.
The company says the project is in the development phase and a "final investment decision" is expected in 2023.
EnergyAustralia Development's Lake Lyell Pumped Hydro Energy Storage project near Lithgow received $11 million in funding under Friday morning's announcement.
