It will be the first time underground compressed air storage technology has been used in Australia.

Wedoany.com Report-Feb 25, A unique $638 million renewable energy project that could power about 80,000 homes in peak demand has been approved at a disused mine in outback New South Wales. Canadian company Hydrostor is set to build the "first-of-its-kind" underground compressed air storage project on the outskirts of Broken Hill, creating hundreds of jobs. NSW Planning and Public Spaces Minister Paul Scully praised the project as a "really innovative approach to tackling a problem … while maintaining and providing energy security." He noted that the Silver City Energy Storage Centre could prevent blackouts similar to one that crippled the region in October last year. During periods of low energy demand, excess electricity is used to compress air and store it underground. Once charged, the compressed air can be released, heated, and expanded through turbines to generate electricity. The site of the old Potosi mine outside Broken Hill is where the facility will be built. By the end of this year, Hydrostor is expected to begin the three-to-four-year construction phase. The project is projected to create between 250 to 400 jobs during each year of construction. Broken Hill Mayor Tom Kennedy highlighted the project's potential to inject income into the city and grow its population, which has been declining due to mining. The population has dropped from 35,000 in the 1960s to around 17,588 by the 2021 Census, but Mr Kennedy hopes the energy project will reverse this trend. After construction, there will be about 26 ongoing operational jobs, and the NSW government has leased the crown land site to Hydrostor for 65 years.