THE company behind a proposed pumped hydro project near Yetholme has explained the background behind two of the aspects of the proposal that are proving most contentious to those who oppose it: the location and the use of water.
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ATCO, a global company based in Canada that has been operating in Australia for about 65 years, is proposing the construction of a reservoir at the top of Mount Tennyson, near Yetholme, and another in a nearby valley as part of the pumped hydro project.
It says water would be pumped to an upper reservoir when there is an excess of renewable energy, stored and then the water would be released to generate energy at the times of the day it is most needed.
The project has attracted criticism, which has included the Friends of the Fish River group launching an electronic petition and a meeting of unhappy O'Connell citizens being held in late July.
ATCO executive general manager of business development Ben Bolot said the site at Yetholme was one of many locations across Australia identified by the Australian National University a number of years ago as potentially suitable for pumped hydro storage.
Mr Bolot said what made the Yetholme site suitable included its proximity to transmission lines; the fact it is on private land; has the right level of "head" between the upper reservoir and the lower reservoir; and is close to urban areas, which is important for providing services once the project gets up and running.
A criticism of the project from the Friends of the Fish River group is that it will "deforest and industrialise" the rural landscape, but Mr Bolot said the bottom reservoir would be built on "highly degraded land".
"It [the land] can't be farmed," he said. "The landowner who owns that land is actually quite happy that something can be done with it.
"There are obviously some species [on the land] that we need to consider, which we are, and we're working through how we deal with those."
The upper reservoir, he said, would be built on a location that was once a molybdenite (mineral) mine.
"It's relatively flat already," he said. "It's got a bit of undulation."
ATCO communications and engagement manager Kimbalee Clews said a community of white box gum had been identified at this location and the planned top reservoir had been realigned to avoid that whitebox habitat.
Both Mr Bolot and Ms Clews said, by law, ATCO would have to overcompensate for any ecological impact from the construction of the project.
The proposed pumped hydro plant would need an initial 3.3 gigalitres from the Fish River and 400 megalitres annually to account for evaporation and seepage.
"We have identified a way of filling the upper reservoir using natural flows from the Fish River, but only when the flows are sufficient to do so," Mr Bolot said.
"There's no intention to dam the Fish River, take all the water and have no downstream.
"The intention is always to work within the natural flows of the river and any excess flows get used to fill [the reservoir]."
He said the NSW Government now issues Special Purpose Access Licences (SPAL) for pumped hydro projects.
"And they work within the Murray-Darling water allocation system, so they're not taking rights from other people. It's actually part of the allocation that's already in the system.
"We will apply for a SPAL because we will need one and we will work with the government to make sure that we do so in an appropriate and managed way so that we're not affecting people downstream."
He said the 3.3 gigalitres of water would be taken over an extended period and "we will then also have water licences for the annual top-off for evaporation and seepage and all those things that happen when you have got water stored and those will be existing licences that we will buy on market".
Friends of the Fish River chairman David Willis says the pumped hydro project "imperils Bathurst's drinking water supply".
Bathurst Regional councillor Warren Aubin has talked in the past about how important the Fish River - which meets the Campbells south of Bathurst to form the Macquarie - was in providing water to Bathurst during the last drought.
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