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Key points
- The Genex share price is down today, and has dropped 24% in 12 months
- The energy utility company has hit a construction milestone at its K2-Hydro project
- Today's announcement indicates the project is on track for use in Q4 2022
The Genex Power Ltd (ASX: GNX) share price is down today, but that doesn't mean its operations are.
This morning, the clean energy generation company announced it had made ground-breaking progress with the construction of its flagship Kidson project.
At the time of writing, the Genex share price has fallen 2.63%, trading at 18.5 cents apiece.
Let's take a closer look…
K2-Hydro construction on-track
The 250MW Kidson Pumped Storage Hydro Project, or K2-Hydro for short, is the flagship project of Genex's Kidson Clean Energy Hub in far north Queensland.
Once constructed, it will be the third-largest electricity storage device in the country — with a capacity of 2,000 megawatt hours [MWh] — producing and delivering on-demand renewable energy during high periods.
With a totally-funded construction cost of $777 million, its the first of its kind to be privately developed, according to the company, and will have an overall lifespan of 80 years.
In this morning's announcement, Genex Power advised that the project's construction was on track, with a chunk of the to-do list already checked off ahead of schedule.
Major construction in the main access tunnel has been underway over the past two months. Now, the company has pushed ahead with two manned shifts per day delivering round-the-clock underground tunnelling.
This will progress the construction stage by 8 metres per day for the next 6 months — pushing towards the project's goal of first power generation by the fourth quarter of 2024.
What did management say?
Commenting on the update, Genex CEO James Harding said:
Following an intense period of site establishment and preparation works, I am delighted that the EPC Contractor JV of McDonnell Dowell and John Holland has formally commenced the underground excavation works for the Kidson Pumped Storage Hydro Project.
This represents a significant milestone in the project construction timeline which was achieved ahead of schedule.
We look forward to working alongside the EPC JV and keeping the market updated as the program continues to push ahead over the course of this year.
Genex share price snapshot
The Genex share price has seen a volatile 12 months, dropping overall by almost 21%.
In late November, the Genex share price saw its 52-week-low of 18 cents, though no company news was released.
The company has a market capitalisation of $197 million at the time of writing.
