Genex started trading on the Australian Securities Exchange this morning, having raised $8 million from its oversubscribed initial public offering.

The funds will be used to complete the scoping study on the Kidston power project in northern Queensland.

Genex is advancing the feasibility study for its flagship project, based around the historic Kidston gold mine to generate 330 megawatts of peaking power for the state's electricity network.

Genex managing director Michael Addison told Energy News that the scope to expand beyond Kidston was unrivalled, but that Kidston is perhaps the best site in Australia for the $280 million project.

"When we started on this we looked all over Australia for suitable sites," he said.

"We consulted the Queensland government, and they went in one direction and we went in another. We both got back together, and Kidston was the top choice, but there are other sites in Australia where we can do similar things."

Addison says there are around 14,000 abandoned mines in Western Australia and some 11,000 mines in Queensland, and while many may not meet the right technical fundamentals for hydro-pump power, there's plenty of scope to expand.

"I think it's pretty exciting," Addison said.

But that's putting the cart before the horse.

Step one, to complete a pre-feasibility study has been successfully completed.

Step two, the full feasibility study required to take a bankable project to a final investment decision, required the recent raising.

Genex raised the cash from institutional and retail investors based on an offer price of 20c per share, with 40 million shares issued.

The book build, underwritten by stockbroker Morgans, was oversubscribed.

Addison said the zeal from investors was possibly down to the company's fairly unique offering.

"There is an over-supply of baseload power, particularly coal-fired power in Queensland, but the peaking power is basically driven by gas turbines and the dynamics of the gas markets are changing," he explained.

"We will sit fairly comfortably in a peaking power scenario. The dynamics of the markets are changing across the country, both with the generation mix and competition, and how people are planning for the future, but there is a unique situation in Queensland."

Genex has a number of milestones it wants to hit over the next two years, which Addison said would be explained further in the coming months.

Addison said the pre-feasibility at Kidston had not been able to find a fatal flaw in the proposal, and the target now is to complete the detailed design work needed up support development of a complicated construction project.

The major risk for the Kidston project is a blow-out in capital expenditure, he warned.

Nothing was flagged in the PFS, but turning the old mine's pits into a pumped storage hydroelectricity scheme, where electricity is generated when water is released from an upper reservoir through turbine generators and into a lower reservoir.

It is still a complex build, involving transmission lines, civil engineering works, much of which will be underground, and installing the generation equipment.

"These things aren't simple to build, but once they are completed they can work from day one," Addison said.

The project is backed by the local and state governments, and Addison is hopeful the Commonwealth may even look favourably on its plans while it considers the development of for northern Australia.

Genex's partner is Zhefu Hydropower International Engineering Corporation, one of the largest hydroelectric electrical and mechanical equipment manufacturers in China.

It will be partner in Kidston and major shareholder in Genex.

If developed Kidston will be the third largest hydroelectric energy storage project in Australia when it comes online in 2018.

Addison believes South Australia also has all the hallmarks of a place a similar project could expand, especially given these hydro-pump projects can be integrated with other renewable generation projects such as wind, wave or solar, helping the downtime inherent in those generation mediums.

Genex has the ASX ticker GNX.