Snowy Hydro 2.​0 to Get ​Funding Boost ​

Snowy 2.0 is a pumped hydro project with the potential to provide storage for large scale, reliable renewable energy to Australia at a time when energy security and climate change are at the forefront of public policy.

Image source: SnowyHydro on Facebook

Difficult geology could see construction of Snowy Hydro 2.0 take six years to build, with Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull announcing an extra $8 million for the feasibility study.

If built, Snowy 2.0 would increase the generation capacity of the iconic Snowy Scheme by up to 50 per cent, making up to 2000 megawatts available to the National Electricity Market.

This energy storage capacity could then be used to ease pressure at times of high demand and provide rapid-response back-up to fill unexpected gaps in electricity supply. This is important as the economy reduces reliance on fossil fuels and increases its use of renewable energy – the security provided by energy storage can protect the community from blackouts and prices shocks.

Mr Turnbull confirmed today a new $8 million accelerated agreement between the Australian Renewable Energy Agency and Snowy Hydro had been reached to drive planning for the construction of the project.

Snowy Hydro chief executive officer Paul Broad said the project would involve building a proposed power station about 200 metre long, about the size of two football fields.

“From top to bottom it will be a kilometre underground, straight down. So the size of the engineering challenge is enormous,” he said.

When asked how long it would take to build Mr Broad said the feasibility study would give a better idea, but said “it’s six years”.

“It depends on the geology and we will firm it up in the next month or two,” he said.

Mr Broad confirmed the feasibility study would be done in December.

More money is required for the feasibility study because it has been “reformatted”, and the “small project” has turned into a far larger and more all-encompassing project that also requires a lot more drilling.

Mr Turnbull said Snowy Hydro 2.0 would make renewables reliable as it would act like a large battery.

“This is how you make renewables work,” he said in Cooma today.

In the meantime Mr Turnbull said the government was contributing to making electricity more affordable and reliable.

Read full article and find out more: News.com.au and SnowyHydro

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• Geology
• Hydrogeology
• Energy
• Infrastructure
• Infrastructure Management
• Renewable Energy