The company also announced it had received $47 million from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency as a grant to help fund the construction costs of the project. It adds to the $610 million loan from the Federal Government’s Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility and the $147 million paid to Powerlink by the State Government to fund the transmission costs.

J-Power has also agreed to take up $25 million in equity. At the completion of the equity raising, Genex will have $777 million in capital to deliver the pumped hydro scheme which is expected to take four years.

Genex had been looking for an equity partner to take a 50 per cent stake in the project which will be built on the disused Kidston gold mine pits. It had got as far as selecting a preferred partner but could not reach an agreement on terms and so opted for an equity raising and placement to finance the project.

The financing will include a placement to institutions of 170 million shares to raise $34 million and an 11-for-20 pro rata acelerated non-renounceable entitlement offer of 281 milllion shares to raise $56.3 million.

The new shares will be issued at 20 cents. It last traded at 28 cents.

Financial close on the project is expected mid-May, following an extraordinary general meeting to approve the J-Power equity.

Morgans and Canaccord Genuity were lead managers and underwriters on the deal.

The pumped hydro project will act like a battery. It will deliver electricity to the grid at peak times by transferring water from one pit to the other. Genex also operates a solar farm at the site and has plans for a wind farm.

Genex chief executive James Harding said the financing announced today was a major milestone for the project and the company.