Other Generators · ACEN Renewables · Hydro - Dam
03 Jun 2026 22:00 → 04 Jun 2026 22:00 AEST
| Capex total (greenfield) |
$400.00M
Shown in table How this was derived Reference |
|---|---|
| Capex refurbishment |
—
|
| Capex / MWh storage |
$200,000
Shown in table How this was derived Reference |
| Fixed OPEX (annual) |
$5.00M
Shown in table How this was derived Reference |
| Fixed OPEX / MW-yr |
$20,000
Shown in table How this was derived Reference |
| Variable OPEX / MWh |
$0.00
Shown in table How this was derived Reference |
| Fuel cost / GJ |
—
How this was derived Reference |
| Heat rate GJ/MWh |
—
How this was derived Reference |
Confidence: medium · Status: ai estimated · Capex basis: reported · AI checked 04 Jun 2026
Notes
Baroota is listed by AEMO/public NEM datasets as a proposed/publicly announced storage development rather than an operating generator with a DUID. The user-provided online date of 2025-12-01 could not be confirmed as actual commissioning; AEMO 2025 South Australian Electricity Report lists Baroota Pumped Hydro Project as a storage development with 250 MW and storage capacity 'Not provided'. A 2025 GHD/AEMO pumped hydro review lists Baroota at 250 MW, 8 hours and 2,000 MWh. The AUD 400 million capex is a 2019 nominal reported project value from energy finance/media sources and was not found in an owner financial close announcement. Fixed and variable O&M are technology-default estimates from GHD/AEMO 2025 PHES O&M assumptions for a 500 MW x 10 hour reference project scaled to 250 MW, not generator-specific. Asset life is a default 50-year economic life consistent with public pumped-hydro consultation material and broadly consistent with NEM generator dataset closure around 2072, but not a Baroota-specific engineering design-life disclosure. Operational emissions intensity is treated as zero Scope 1 for hydro/pumped-hydro generation; lifecycle and pumping-electricity Scope 2 emissions are excluded.
Baroota appears to remain a publicly announced/proposed development in the latest located AEMO South Australian reporting rather than an operating DUID-registered generator; this conflicts with the supplied online date of 2025-12-01. Capex is conflicted: project-specific 2019 media/transaction reporting states AUD 400 million for the 250 MW, 8-hour Baroota pumped hydro facility; the SA development application for the broader 'Baroota Hydro Energy Storage and Solar Project' states approximately AUD 700 million capex for the Project, likely including a broader scope and/or later development cost. Financial profile uses the more generator-specific AUD 400 million reported nominal capex, and includes the AUD 700 million source as a warning/conflict. Fixed and variable O&M are not project-specific; they are estimated from AEMO/GHD 2025 PHES default assumptions for a 10-hour pumped hydro storage project, scaled to 250 MW. Efficiency is represented as round-trip storage efficiency midpoint of 75-80%, not thermal heat-rate efficiency. Asset life is represented as midpoint of the project-specific 50-70 year range; AEMO/GHD 2025 generic PHES technical/design life is 100 years. No major refurbishment cost was found; GHD notes regular maintenance and refurbishment to ensure efficiency does not drop.
Baroota-specific capex is reported publicly as a nominal AUD 700 million project cost in 2019 for the 250 MW pumped hydro project. Scope includes two 125 MW units, eight hours of storage, upper storage, penstock, pipeline and power station, using existing SA Water Baroota Reservoir as lower storage. The implied storage is 2,000 MWh and capex metrics are calculated as AUD 700m / 250 MW = AUD 2.8m/MW and AUD 700m / 2,000 MWh = AUD 350,000/MWh. Public sources indicate development approval / permitting and changing target CODs; the user-provided online date of 2025-12-01 is not confirmed by public owner sources and appears inconsistent with later sources that describe the project as at permitting/proposed status or expected commissioning in 2026. No Baroota-specific O&M, round-trip efficiency, emissions-intensity, or asset-life data was found; these values use AEMO/Aurecon PHES defaults. Fixed O&M uses the 500 MW / 10-hour PHES default of AUD 95,000/MW-year, scaled to 250 MW. Variable O&M is set to 0 because Aurecon includes PHES variable O&M in fixed O&M. Efficiency is the midpoint of Aurecon's 75-80% beginning-of-life round-trip-efficiency range. Asset life is the conservative low end of Aurecon's 80-100 year PHES design/technical life range. Major refurbishment: Aurecon states electro-mechanical elements are typically designed for 40-50 years and major refurbishments usually occur at 25-30 year intervals. Closure/decommissioning: development application excerpts indicate above-ground infrastructure removal; AEMO/GHD PHES retirement assumptions generally retain reservoirs for community/catchment benefit and seal underground waterways/caverns, with indicative retirement cost of AUD 10,500/MW for a 500 MW/10-hour PHES scenario, but this was not applied to the operating-cost fields.