Kidston pumped storage hydro project

Kidston is a 250 MW pumped storage hydropower plant in Far North Queensland, Australia, built in the former Kidston gold mine and set to be the world's first co-located solar pumped storage hydropower plant. The closed water system uses the Wises and Eldridge pits as upper and lower reservoirs, and ANDRITZ is supplying the electro-mechanical equipment: two 125 MW reversible pump-turbines with two 149 MVA motor-generator units. The pump-turbines are designed to handle a lower reservoir level that varies by about 40 m and to generate 2,000 MWh over an eight-hour continuous generation cycle. ANDRITZ also holds an operations and maintenance contract of more than 10 years, with the plant fully managed by ANDRITZ and remotely connected to its control center in Schio, Italy.