Contents lists available at ScienceDirect The Electricity Journal journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/tej Pumped-hydro in Bendigo: Room for wider reform? Elliott Leonard Provis Melbourne Law School, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia ARTICLEINFO Keywords: Pumped hydro-electric storage (PHES) Solar Underground PHES Grid stabiliser ABSTRACT Astheworldadjuststoarapidlychangingclimate,interestinrenewableenergytechnologieshasincreased.One disadvantage of renewables is that they’re only intermittently reliable; when the sun doesn’t shine, or the wind stops blowing the energy generation capacity of these infrastructures tapers off. In light of these changes there hasbeenrenewedinterestinthecreationofPumpedHydro-ElectricityStorage(‘PHES’),whichactsasa‘battery’ storing excess electricity generated when consumption of energy is at its lowest. In addition new technologies allow for legacy infrastructures, that would otherwise be a liability for the community, to now be used in a productivewayforprojectslikePHES.AlthoughtherearemanyexcitingopportunitiestheBendigoPHESproject presents,thereisadearthofregulatoryissuesforasmall-mediumscaleprojectlikethis.Thispaperwillexplore the way in which such a project would fit within the national electricity market, as well as the limitations and barriers to implementation it might face before making some brief recommendations on changes that would benefit other such schemes in the future. 1. Introduction Metropolitan Bendigo is a regional town of approximately 113,000 people, located 132km North-West of Melbourne (Profile.ID, 2017). This site has been selected as the case study of this research paper due to the unique intersection of issues in the energy regulatory environ- ment (including planning regimes, regulations, and statutes about re- newable energy generation). This scheme is in the advanced planning stage,havingalreadycompletedapre-feasibilitystudyitwasfoundthat not only was the project viable, but that it should continue to be in- vestigated(DepartmentofEnvironment,Land,WaterandPlanningand City of Greater Bendigo, 2018). Also of interest because this technology has the ability to dynami- cally stabilize energy demand in the grid, whilst simultaneously low- ering electricity prices in the Bendigo region. As a result of the sus- tained political uncertainty about the future of the electricity grid in Australia,andexponentialincreasesinelectricitypricesthroughoutthe market, the Bendigo local business community has begun to invest in small-medium scale renewable projects with a view to a more afford- able,local,andreliablesourceofelectricity(Vallely,2017).Inaddition, local community activism has driven strong demand for installation of solar photo-voltaic cells used in rooftop systems (Corr, 2017). Pumped HydroElectricitySchemes(‘PHES’)operatesasa‘rechargeablebattery’, which can ‘charge’ from excess energy being produced by such re- newables, and discharge back into the local energy grid when the re- newable electricity generators ‘switch off’. As other PHES projects are now beginning to be researched and planned throughout Victoria, the case for robust analysis of the issues surrounding this proposal are warranted. The BSG PHES could become the blueprint for future PHES within Victoria. This paper intends to first detail the context in which this idea was bornefrom,beforethendescribingthemechanicsbehindPHES.Abrief discussion of the national and state-based energy regulatory environ- ments will follow, before delving into the administrative competencies asaformofregulation(andthesiloedapproachesofgovernment)that may present as issues for the PHES more broadly. The specific jur- isdictional issues that the Bendigo PHES might encounter are covered, andthenanalysisofthecommunityco-operativeasaformofownership behind small-medium scale renewable energy storage plans is studied (and how these might fit into the regulatory framework). Discussion willmovetoconsidersubstantiveregulatoryrequirementsandwhether these exemplify a slide towards ad-hoc approval of PHES, before looking at some of the specific legal hurdles the BSG PHES might en- counter (Parliament of Victoria and Economic, Education, Jobs and Skills Committee, 2017). Concluding remarks then follow. 2. Context Bendigo has a rich history of gold mining. Beneath the town, nu- merous mining shafts exist because of gold prospecting and production from slate belt/turbidite quartz veins that has occurred since the mid 1850′s (Department of Economic Development and Jobs, 2015). This https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tej.2019.106634 E-mail address: hello@elliotprovis.me. The Electricity Journal 32 (2019) 106634 Available online 19 August 2019 1040-6190/ © 2019 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. T