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REZ Project Watch
Australia · NSW deep dive
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Demo seed — verify before use. This dashboard distinguishes between declared REZs, proposed or candidate REZs, access-rights projects, planning-portal projects, priority-list projects and offshore wind declared areas. Status does not imply final approval unless confirmed by the relevant authority.
Data currency: 2026-05-18 · 59 of 67 projects verified at confidence ≥ 70/100
Verified URLs span NSW Planning Portal, IPC, DCCEEW EPBC, proponent project sites.
NSW deep dive › New England REZ › Oven Mountain Pumped Hydro Energy Storage

Oven Mountain Pumped Hydro Energy Storage

Alinta Energy
pumped hydroon exhibitionConfidence: High
Capacity and technology
Technology
pumped hydro
Capacity (MW)
900 MW
Storage
7.20 GWh
Estimated capex, local spend and peak workforce
Total development cost
~$4.05B benchmark estimate
900 MW × $4.5M/MW (pumped hydro, high site-specific variability)
Industry benchmark only — not project-specific. Sources: Clean Energy Council, BloombergNEF 2024 Australian utility-scale LCOE inputs, AEMO ISP 2024 cost assumptions. Actual capex varies materially by site, OEM, supply chain and grid-connection works.
Estimated local / regional spend
~$891M benchmark estimate
22% of capex — Clean Energy Council benchmark for renewable energy construction in regional Australia. Actual local content varies by project siting, procurement strategy and any access-scheme local-content conditions.
Estimated peak construction workforce
~1,350 roles benchmark estimate
Industry benchmark: ~0.7 FTE/MW wind, 0.5 FTE/MW solar, 0.4 FTE/MWh BESS, 1.5 FTE/MW pumped hydro. Peak during civil/electrical phase only — operations workforce is typically ~5-10% of construction peak.
Workforce breakdown — sector mix and phasing

Sector mix and phase distribution for the estimated construction workforce. Basis: industry norm (Clean Energy Council, ARENA, AEMO ISP 2024 + comparable EIS Social Impact Assessments). Numbers are decision-support indicators, not a project-specific forecast.

By service sector / industry (peak year)
Civil / earthworks
~675 FTE
Electrical trades
~203 FTE
Mechanical / structural
~203 FTE
Plant operators
~135 FTE
PM / engineering / env
~68 FTE
Logistics / admin
~68 FTE
By phase (across construction window)
PhaseFTEWhat's happening
Mobilisation + civils (year 1)
~810
Site prep, access roads, foundations, early electrical. Civil trades dominant.
Peak construction (year 2)
~1,350
All trades concurrent. Turbine / panel delivery, electrical install, commissioning prep.
Commissioning / demob (year 3)
~945
Specialist electrical and testing. Civil and structural ramping down.
Operations (ongoing)
~95
Permanent O&M workforce — typically 5–10% of construction peak. Plus periodic major-maintenance windows.

Sector mix from CEC, ARENA and AEMO ISP workforce profiles for utility-scale Australian builds. Phase distribution from comparable EIS Social Impact Assessments. Indicative only — actual workforce varies with OEM, contractor strategy, weather and OSOM scheduling.

Approvals and access rights
Project status
on exhibition
Planning status
EIS Notice of Exhibition issued January 2026 — verify current exhibition status
Access right status
not awarded
EPBC status
pending — Commonwealth approval required
Grid connection
in New England region; connection pathway tbc
Financial close
not at financial close
Construction start
2026 (proponent target, subject to approvals)
Operations start
unknown
Location
LGA
Kempsey Shire / Armidale Regional
Region
New England / Mid North Coast NSW
REZ
New England REZ
REZ relationship
adjacent to declared REZ
Coordinates
-30.85, 152.25 (approximate)
Project documents — EIS, SEARs, proponent pages

Direct links to public documents and pages for this project. Phase 2 ingestion will pull updates automatically; Sprint 0 entries are verified manually with a confidence score per record.

Notes

900 MW / 7,200 MWh off-river pumped hydro. Two reservoirs + tunnels + underground power station with 600 m elevation difference. Located near the Macleay River between Armidale and Kempsey. Alinta Energy is developer. Targets 2026 construction subject to state and Commonwealth approvals.

Source confidence: 80/100
Last verified: 2026-05-13
Every material fact on this page is sourced. A "View source" link is provided per source below.
Source evidence
Confidence: High
  • primaryNSW Planning Portal — Major Projects
    View source ↗
    Authoritative for NSW SSD and SSI planning status. Hosts each project's Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), SEARs, response to submissions, and other planning documents. Outranks proponent and media reports for planning_status. Per-project EIS and SSD page URLs are tracked under each project's project_documents.
  • secondaryProponent project websites
    View source ↗
    Proponent-supplied content from each project's dedicated page on the proponent's website. Useful for technology, capacity intent, community engagement messaging, project newsletters, fact sheets and timeline updates. Cannot override official planning_status or epbc_status. Per-project page URLs are tracked under each project's project_documents.
  • secondaryCouncil minutes — CWO REZ LGAs
    View source ↗
    Council minutes, agendas, planning decisions affecting REZ delivery.
Open questions
  • Planning status against the NSW Planning Portal — verify SSD reference.
  • EPBC referral status — verify against DCCEEW public notices.
  • Storage MWh and voltage figures — confirm from proponent documents and AEMO Generation Information.
  • Workforce and accommodation commitments — confirm in SSD documentation or VPA.
  • First Nations engagement reporting — confirm in IEP / cultural heritage chapter.
See this project in context
REZ workspace
New England REZ
All projects, pressure bands and shared-value commitments for this REZ
LGA detail
Kempsey Shire
1 projects · everything affecting this council area
LGA detail
Armidale Regional
3 projects · everything affecting this council area
Workforce + supply ratio
Demand vs ABS baseline
How this REZ's peak compares to existing regional workforce
Regional spend
Annual flow by year
This project's share of the year-by-year capex flow into regional NSW
Project timeline
Gantt by REZ
Visual overlap with neighbouring projects' construction windows
Cross-sector pressures
Non-REZ competing demand
What else is being built in the region in the same window
Upcoming decisions
4 relevant to this project or REZ
IPC meetings, EIS exhibitions, council determinations