Wedoany.com Report-Nov 16,  Alinta Energy has announced that Gamuda and Ferrovial Construction will join as Early Contractor Involvement (ECI) partners for the Oven Mountain pumped storage hydro project in New South Wales, Australia.

In this role, Gamuda and Ferrovial will work with Alinta Energy to advance the project’s design and begin preliminary procurement discussions. These discussions aim to assess contractor capabilities and resource availability, from national to local levels.

The Oven Mountain project has not yet received final regulatory approvals or reached an investment decision, so these talks remain preliminary. Alinta Energy noted that this phase does not guarantee future project work for all parties involved.

Alinta Energy’s Project Director, Anthony Wiseman, stated that this stage is focused on evaluating costs and the project’s feasibility.

“It’s the most advanced pumped hydro project in NSW — and one that we think is critical for the energy transition,” Wiseman said. “In this phase, we’re ensuring that we can get the parts, we can get the materials, we can get the labour, and at the right cost, so that construction can commence once we receive our remaining approvals and make a final investment decision. It’s exciting, but we still have a lot of work to do to make this project a reality.”

The 900MW 8-hour pumped storage hydro project will help NSW replace coal-fired power and support the addition of more renewables to its energy system.

Back in 2020, the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) provided almost $1 million to investigate how the project can provide system-wide benefits, by storing and enabling variable renewable energy generation, improving system strength, unlocking network constraints and helping to reduce marginal loss factors.