MinterEllison advises Hillgrove Resources on $31m sale of rights to develop 250 MW Pumped Hydro Energy Storage project in SA

The delivery of the PHES project at Kanmantoo will transform a mining site into one of Australia's lowest cost electricity storage projects, at a time when synchronous generation and bulk storage is required.

The PHES project is expected to have generating capacity of 250 megawatts and 8 hours of storage, making it the largest storage capacity in South Australia. 

Hillgrove Resources is a copper and gold producer with production and exploration assets in South Australia.

The rationale for the project stemmed from the need for cost effective storage to deal with volatility in electricity prices and the reliability of supply. The Kanmantoo site is in close proximity to electricity infrastructure and has water delivered through dedicated pipelines, making it an ideal site.

MinterEllison's role has included advising on the structure of the transaction, preparing the tender documents, and leading negotiations on the transaction documents.

"With open cut mining set to scale back in the next 12 - 18 months, the development of the PHES project at the Kanmantoo site presents itself as a great opportunity for Hillgrove to generate added value from an existing asset in an area outside of the scope of its core business," said Andrew Corletto, MinterEllison's lead Partner. "This project is the largest storage capacity in the South Australian energy market, and the relative scarcity of PHES projects in Australia makes this transaction unique."

"We have acted for Hillgrove on a range of corporate and transactional matters for many years, and look forward to seeing the PHES project play a positive role for the South Australian energy market."

The MinterEllison team was led by Andrew Corletto (Partner). He was supported by Paul Ingram (Partner), Stephen Hill (Partner), Jeremy Hill (Partner), Clay Wohling (Partner), Cianan Hehir (Senior Associate) and Russell Jones (Associate).