Australia-based Genex Power has secured approval from the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility (NAIF) to move its stage II, large-scale solar and hydro pumped storage projects at Kidston in North Queensland to a full due diligence phase.
Prior to approval, the projects were in a strategic assessment phase, which involved preliminary and assessment stakeholder consultation. Genex will now be able to provide NAIF with the necessary information on its several stage II projects.
The company expects to receive between A$200m ($152m) and A$300m ($228m) in debt funding from NAIF to move forward with stage II of the 270MW Kidston solar project, which will require a A$420m ($319m) investment.
Genex Power managing director Michael Addison said: “Genex is aiming to commence construction of the 270MW solar and 250MW hydro projects in 2018.”
The Queensland State Government intends to commit $150m to develop a 275kV transmission line in Northern Queensland, which will include linking Genex’s stage II projects to the Powerlink network.
Genex is currently involved in the field of clean energy generation and provides electricity storage solutions.
