Coal news and updates

Australia’s oldest open cut coal mine to be transformed into major renewables hub

Plans to repurpose the Muswellbrook coal mine in the New South Wales Upper Hunter region have grown from a pumped hydro project to a renewable energy precinct, potentially adding solar, battery storage and green hydrogen to the mix at the site of Australia’s oldest open-cut mine.

The owner of the soon-to-close mine, the Australian arm of Japanese company Idemitsu, this week unveiled a masterplan for the Muswellbrook site that will see it converted into an industrial hub with a total of four renewable energy projects and related training facilities.

The expanded plans for what has been dubbed the Muswellbrook Energy, Training and Industry Precinct (METIP), build on the Bells Mountain pumped hydro energy storage project, which Idemitsu has been developing with AGL Energy.

Bells Mountain, as RenewEconomy has reported, proposes to develop a 250MW pumped hydro facility with eight hours of storage in a disused void at the site of the former Muswellbrook Coal Company. It is currently in the final stages of feasibility studies.

On top of that, Idemitsu says it is now also exploring the feasibility of installing a large-scale, 150 to 200MW solar PV and associated battery project, as well as a green hydrogen production facility, refuelling facility and associated infrastructure it hopes to develop in partnership with Energy Estate.

The renewable hydrogen part of the scheme falls in line with the federal government’s designation of the Hunter as a Hydrogen Hub, which has been backed by funding. Idemitsu is hopeful of state support, too, considering the proposed project is located in the NSW Hunter and Central Coast Renewable Energy Zone.