Will Government pay AGL to go Green??, page-50

I was in no way being pessimistic - just stating the facts as I know them. The other factor in lack of investment to date is incumbents trying to protect the revenue and profitability of their existing assets... the model on which power generation in Australia has existed to date does not encourage additional on demand capacity, particularly for supply such as pumped hydro assets when they have storage of 8hrs+ at 100% output. The impact they could have on morning and night peak pricing, while charging in between at the lowest pricing points will be very significant - solar is already making a significant impact to daytime supply pricing.

AFAIK... the biggest issue with the identified sites is either the proximity to population or existing transmission assets... green hubs like those being set up in QLD and NSW will likely change the appeal of many of these sites.

The other obvious impacts are environmental or cultural - or in the case of AGL... Kanmantoo 250Mw PH site was walked away from after the site operator decided to continue mining the site and put too many restrictions on AGL developing PH at the location. At least he other project identified by AGL in 2019 (Bells Mountain - 250Mw - 8 hours storage) is still progressing and is expected to be operational somewhere around 2027.