High inflows to the Snowy Scheme, including the Jindabyne catchment, have been experienced for more than 12 months and are continuing due to the late snow falls and wetter than usual weather conditions.

Lake levels are approaching 100% and continue to rise, so Snowy Hydro has consulted with NSW Department of Planning and Environment (DPE Water) to make pre-releases into the Snowy River below Jindabyne Dam from 1am Saturday 17 December 2022.

Pre-releases will be greater than the environmental releases notified on Snowy Hydro’s website and may change at short notice in response to the weather conditions. Releases are expected to remain below 2,000 megalitres per day, but could increase in response to further weather events.

If Lake Jindabyne reaches 100%, it will trigger the operation of the spillway gates. Dam safety is paramount, and the spillway gates will automatically release water whenever the storage reaches or exceeds 100%.

For the community the most important message is to stay safe and well informed. The public can stay updated about flood alerts here:

• Bureau of Meteorology
• NSW State Emergency Service 

For more information about releases into the Snowy River visit 

https://www.snowyhydro.com.au/generation/live-data/lake-levels/ and

https://dpie.nsw.gov.au/water/home

Snowy Hydro will continue to keep the community informed about management of water in Lake Jindabyne through its website and social media channels.

Following recent rainfall events and seasonal snowmelt inflows, Jindabyne Dam reached full supply level on Friday 28 October 2022 and commenced spilling into the Snowy River.

Dam safety is paramount at this time and spillway gates will operate automatically to regulate the inflows and pass them through to the Snowy River below the dam until the lake level falls below 100%.

Snowy Hydro expects high lake levels to remain and to continue releasing volumes in excess of the designated environmental release targets well into November.

Pre-releases of up to 5,000 megalitres per day from Jindabyne Dam into the Snowy River have been conducted since 4 October. This has helped in avoiding spills until now and will continue to reduce the peak of any subsequent flood events that may occur.

Snowy Hydro has been managing significant inflows throughout 2022. In the last three months there has been an increase in Eucumbene’s storage of 850 gigalitres, which is over 1.5 times the capacity of Sydney Harbour. Inflows to Jindabyne cannot be moved into Eucumbene and with significant flooding in all directions, excess inflows can only be passed into the Snowy River at present.

For the community the most important message is to stay safe and well informed. The public can stay updated about flood alerts here:

• Bureau of Meteorology
• NSW State Emergency Service and
• Vic Emergency

For more information about releases into the Snowy River visit
https://www.snowyhydro.com.au/generation/live-data/lake-levels/ and
https://dpie.nsw.gov.au/water/home

Snowy Hydro will continue to keep the community informed about management of water in Lake Jindabyne through its website and social media channels.

Snowy 2.0, a nation-building pumped-hydro project that will provide Australia with on-demand, clean, renewable energy and large-scale storage, is celebrating its inaugural tunnelling milestone.

The project’s first tunnel boring machine (TBM), the Lady Eileen Hudson, has passed the one kilometre mark of the 2.6km main access tunnel, which leads to the site of the underground power station cavern.

Minister for Industry, Energy and Emissions Reduction Angus Taylor said Snowy 2.0 is going from strength to strength.

“Reaching this critical milestone brings Snowy 2.0 closer to delivering 2,000 megawatts of fast-start, dispatchable energy needed to make our grid secure and keep pressure on power prices for Australian families and businesses,” Minister Taylor said.

“Snowy 2.0 will store the excess energy from Australia’s world-leading levels of household solar and use that energy when the sun goes down, enough to power the equivalent of 500,000 homes for over a week during peak demand.

“The project is providing a major job and economic boom for the Snowy region, building on the great legacy of the Snowy Scheme, a national icon.”

Snowy Hydro Managing Director and CEO Paul Broad said the tunnelling achievement highlighted the Snowy 2.0 project’s outstanding construction progress.

“It’s an exciting time in the mountains with Snowy 2.0 – this is a megaproject that’s on-budget and due to produce first power in 2025 as planned,” Mr Broad said.

“Tunnelling at Lobs Hole is going very well, with about 4,500 concrete segments manufactured locally at our factory in Cooma used to create 500 rings to line the first kilometre of the main access tunnel. In total, around 130,500 segments will be produced for the Snowy 2.0 tunnels.

“We are also getting ready to launch our second TBM, named Kirsten, with our principal contractor, Future Generation Joint Venture.

“The progress being made by the project’s growing 1,400-strong workforce is particularly noteworthy given the very difficult scenarios we’ve faced as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions and bushfire impacts over the last year and a half.

“It’s particularly good to see the training and upskilling opportunities Snowy 2.0 is providing, creating lots of apprenticeships and giving local people the chance to work on the TBMs.”

There are three Snowy 2.0 TBMs, which will collectively tunnel more than 27km between Tantangara and Talbingo reservoirs. A power station with pumping capabilities will be located more than 800m below ground.

Snowy 2.o’s 2,000 megawatts of pumping and generating capacity and 350,000 megawatt hours of storage will underpin thousands of megawatts of intermittent renewables.