$30 million future fund windfall for Oven Mountain hydro project

The agreement means $600,000 per year (adjusted for CPI) for the life of the project will flow into a soon-to-be-established Future Fund.

Over an estimated 50-plus year lifecycle, council and the community would receive $30 million.

"This will provide the Intergenerational benefit (of the renewable energy zone) we've been seeking for the community for a long time," Mayor Sam Coupland said.

"This is one of these great achievements for this term of council."

The energy provider will inject cash into council's coffers annually, to be used for community projects with 30 per cent of the funding to be pitched by the community but determined by a committee.

"What's been negotiated is a fantastic outcome, it was negotiated by the executive, primarily chief officer Boyce and general manager James Roncon.

"Given what was initially offered, they have upped that by a factor of four and we now have what I would describe as a very good agreement.

"It will be a significant amount of money in this particular planning agreement, and it is a testament to the maturity that this council has reached in terms of being able to get great outcomes for the community."

The planning agreement is conditional on Armidale Regional Council and Oven Mountain Pumped Storage entering into Heads of Agreement for proposed upgrade works for the project in the Kempsey-Armidale road upgrade.

Councillor Dorothy Robinson echoed Cr Coupland's sentiments and touched on the importance of storage of renewable energy.

"This is a superb agreement both because of the money that is to be coming to the council and the community benefits, but also because as the renewable energy zone develops, storage becomes more and more important.

"As we get more and more renewable energy, storage will be the key thing that will drive our renewable energy and drive our progress on climate change."

Construction of the proposed 900-megawatt 'battery for the New England,' off-river facility is expected to start in late 2024 and is expected to take five years until completion.

Atlinta is currently crafting responses to public submissions to the project's Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). The EIS is based on the project's Secretary's Environmental Assessment Requirements (SEARs), which were issued in February 2021 and amended in 2022.

Construction on the project cannot commence until formal planning approval has been received.

Plans for the Oven Mountain Pumped Hydro Energy Storage project include an underground pumped hydro power station, upper and lower reservoirs, grid connection, and ancillary infrastructure.

The Project will include the construction of:

The project will also include the construction of a new electricity transmission line (approximately 12km in length), which will connect the generation site to the existing Armidale - Kempsey 132 kV line 965.

Hong Kong-owned, Australian energy retailer Alinta Energy is the project's major partner and the intention would be to sell the major infrastructure to a company that will manage the 50-plus year life of the completed scheme.

It is expected that 30 to 50 permanent jobs will remain after the 600 to 1000 construction phase workers pack up tools and drive out of the valley.