A study into renewable energy technology at the former Austar coal mine could create dozens of long-term jobs and establish a template for the future use of legacy mining sites around the country.
Wollongong-based company Green Gravity has executed a Memorandum of Understanding with the mine's owner, Yancoal, to study the application of its innovative energy storage technology at the Paxton site, which closed in 2021.
The companies have agreed to work collaboratively to complete a "pre-feasibility study" to investigate the possibility of utilising decommissioned ventilation shafts at the site for renewable energy storage.
Green Gravity's energy storage system moves heavy weights vertically in legacy mine shafts to capture and release the gravitational potential energy of the weights.
In preparing the study, the team will assess the potential for the gravitational technology to provide long-duration energy storage to the NSW electricity grid. It will also assess how gravitational energy storage assists in delivering beneficial post-mining land use.
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"This study represents an outstanding opportunity for Green Gravity and Yancoal to identify new economic potential at the former Austar mine site, add regional jobs, demonstrate reuse options for legacy coal mining and deliver a better environmental outcome," Green Gravity founder and chief executive officer Mark Swinnerton said.
"Successfully identifying the best method of fitting gravitational technology at the former Austar mine site will create a template for beneficial re-use of legacy mining sites for Yancoal, and for thousands of other mines around the country.
"Green Gravity's energy storage technology represents a breakthrough in the search for economic long-duration storage of renewable energy. By re-using mining assets, costs can be kept low. By using gravity as the fuel, we dispense with consuming the critical water, land, and chemicals which other storage technologies rely on."
Mr Swinnerton said, if the study was a success, the project would create upward of 100 jobs in the near term, with an operating phase likely to be in the dozens.
"It is a little hard to be definitive because there would be a fair bit of job creation in our manufacturing needs, R&D, engineering and maintenance which would also grow in supporting multiple projects beyond the Austar project," he said.
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Yancoal announced the closure of the Austar mine in February 2021, about a year after it went into care and maintenance mode.
It remains in the "closure activities" phase, with about 13 staff on site to conduct activities including equipment removal, sealing mine workings, dismantling infrastructure and extensive rehabilitation.
Yancoal owns, operates or participates in nine producing coal mines across NSW, Queensland and Western Australia, and is actively assessing renewable energy projects in Australia.
"As the world moves towards a lower carbon economy, Yancoal is proactively exploring opportunities in the renewable energy sector, with a particular focus on decarbonisation and carbon-neutral themes," Yancoal Australia chief executive officer David Moult said:
"An important element of this project is to show how renewable energy projects can play a potential role in beneficial post-mining land use.
"This MOU with Green Gravity is a demonstration that we are serious in assessing potential renewable energy opportunities and in collaborating with innovative partners to progress our strategy and vision for Yancoal's future for the benefit of our shareholders, employees and communities."
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