Refile: Australia's Genex Power gets govt loan for hydro plant, to start construction in 2021
22/12/2020 24:16
(Refiled to add story keyword search)
Dec 22 (Reuters) - Australia's Genex Power GNX.AX secured
a government loan of up to A$610 million ($462.69 million) for
its Kidston pumped hydro project, the company said on Tuesday,
adding that it would start construction by the first quarter of
next year.
The loan is a lifeline for the project, which had been left
in the lurch in November last year when funding fell through
after it failed to sign a power sale agreement for the plant.
urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N27H16G
In March, Genex lined up EnergyAustralia, a unit of Hong
Kong's CLP Holdings 0002.HK and Australia's third-largest
energy retailer, to buy power from the project.
The loan, which will be provided by the government's A$5
billion Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility, is based on
the final terms of the EnergyAustralia agreement, whose
financial close has been pushed to February 2021.
Genex shares rose over 5%, compared with a 0.5% drop in the
broader Australian market .AXJO .
Pumped hydro acts like a giant battery, pumping water uphill
when energy is abundant and releasing it to create power at
night or on a windless day.
Genex's 250 megawatt Kidston pumped hydro project is being
built at an abandoned gold mine in the state of Queensland, and
if successful, could become a template for similar projects in
abandoned mines and dams all over Australia.
($1 = 1.3184 Australian dollars)
(Reporting by Arundhati Dutta in Bengaluru; editing by
Uttaresh.V)
((arundhati.dutta@thomsonreuters.com;))