JEFF McCloy says his joint venture with fellow developer Stevens Group is in "the late stages of negotiations for a huge solar farm" on the former Kurri Kurri smelter site.
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The solar farm would take advantage of the high-voltage electricity infrastructure that was built to supply the former smelter and is one reason why the site was chosen by Snowy Hydro for a proposed gas-fired power station.
"I don't understand all the argy-bargy over gas but in principle we know that the grid is in danger of failure, and that the manufacturing sector needs stability and reliability of power along with lower power prices," Mr McCloy said.
He said the solar proposal was one of a range of deals being looked at for the industrial sector of the smelter lands development, which includes commercial and residential development across the 2020-hectare site.
"A large proportion of the site will be for environmental offsets but the exact amount is yet to be determined," Mr McCloy said.
Plans for the site received a boost last week when the NSW government approved remediation plans for the 80-hectare footprint where the smelter stood, centring on a lined containment cell adjacent to the old potlines.
Documents lodged with the Department of Planning, Industry and Environment put the estimated cost of the cell at $40 million, including a 30 per cent contingency.
More expensive treatments, including the "thermal desorption" used at Sydney's Olympic Park, were considered.
The cell will take material from the present "Mount Alcan" capped waste stockpile, which will be trucked to the containment cell built on the old "clay borrow pit" east of the smelter.
Water, property and housing minister Melinda Pavey said the government "had agreed to take on the ongoing management of the containment cell".
"This agreement is crucial to the site's remediation and future redevelopment," Ms Pavey said.
"It ensures adequate arrangements are in place for the long-term management of the containment cell, safeguarding human and environmental health so we can unlock the potential of the site for business and the people of the Hunter region."
Hydro Aluminium Kurri Kurri managing director Richard Brown said the company was "delighted" with the approval from Macquarie Street.
"We have been very keen to prepare the site for reuse, and this approval means we can now get on with the redevelopment of the site, which can help to regrow the economy in and around Kurri Kurri, after it was impacted by the closure of the smelter now more than eight years ago," Mr Brown said.
He said site demolition began in 2017 and was all but finished.
LOOK BACK IN TIME AT SMELTER PHOTOS:
Daracon Contractors - part of the Mingay family's Daracon Group - was awarded the remediation contract in December 2019, to build and fill the containment cell.
Mr Brown said the NSW government's Waste Assets Management Corporation, which was part of the Department of Planning, Industry and Environment, had "the experience and expertise to manage landfills and containment cells".
Ms Pavey said the corporation would own and manage the cell after a five-year warranty period, with the government's costs met by a $6.5 million payment from Hydro under a Voluntary Planning Agreement for the Kurri site.
Cessnock councillor Rod Doherty, who is involved with various Coalfields business and community groups and who worked as the smelter's community relations officer from 1981 to 1999, said he was "absolutely" satisfied with Hydro's clean-up plans.
He said that from 1993 spent potliner from the smelter was stored in sheds rather than buried and that the recycling of this would continue until finished in a few years' time.
Mr McCloy said the plans for the smelter lands, with "three distinct precincts" including 2500 residential lots, would "change the culture of the Kurri Kurri and Cessnock areas".
Documents show the planning department approved a Gateway Determination to "rezone the . . . land to permit employment, industrial and residential development" on December 1, with the proposal to go on display by February 15.
Mr McCloy declined to name the company behind the solar farm proposal but said the high voltage transmission lines made it an ideal place to build such an array.
He said it made more sense than "putting them somewhere out in the bush where you've got huge connection costs".
John Stevens, managing director of the Central Coast-based Stevens Group, said his company and the McCloy Group "both believe in the same things" and were "working closely together" on various projects.
He said 85 per cent of his work was now in the Hunter, including the Black Hill industrial park joint venture with Hilton Grugeon's Hunter Land.
- NOTE: Hydro Aluminium Kurri Kurri is a subsidiary of the Norwegian company Norsk Hydro ASA. Snowy Hydro is a company owned by the Commonwealth of Australia, which operates the Snowy Mountains hydro-electric scheme and other electricity generators. The word "Hydro" in both names is coincidental.
Ian Kirkwood
Reporting journalist at the Newcastle Herald since 1987. Editorial writer, general reporter, industrial relations, industry and coal.
Reporting journalist at the Newcastle Herald since 1987. Editorial writer, general reporter, industrial relations, industry and coal.
