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A Powerful Partnership – L’Etape Australia & Snowy Hydro

10/08/2017

For a second year Snowy Hydro is ready to ride, signing on as a major partner of the  L’Étape Australia official Tour de France event.  

The L’Étape Australia event will be held on Saturday 2rd of December, and will see thousands of amateur cyclists from across Australia face the challenging L’Etape course through the mountainous roads of the Snowy Mountains.  

Mr Paul Broad, CEO of  Snowy Hydro said he was proud that the company would be part of such a great event again this year.

“Events like L’Étape bring thousands of people to the region and generate significant economic activity for many local businesses.  

“L’Etape is great for our local communities and it is also a great fit for Snowy Hydro because we recognise the importance of participation, health and wellbeing.  The Company is committed to supporting our staff providing access to a variety of initiatives from yoga and fitness to mental health programs.  

“When it comes to fitness L’Etape is the ultimate challenge so we are thrilled to have several Snowy Hydro teams competing in this year’s event and we are extremely pleased with our  involvement with L’Etape as it brings so much to our local communities”, Mr Broad said.

L’Etape provides amateur riders with the unique opportunity to ride in full Tour de France conditions, with fully closed roads and a choice of two challenging options – the 157km ‘Race’ or the 126km ‘Ride’.  Both routes will test riders strength and endurance particularly the Col de Beloka and the Col de Kosciuszko which will challenge even the fittest of competitors.

Tour de France reigning champion Chris Froome will be onsite to hold clinics, share his knowledge in riding and racing with the amateurs, and he will ride in L’Étape Australia from the back of the pack to the front.  Adding to the Tour de France atmosphere, genuine Tour de France yellow, polka dot and green jerseys will be awarded to winners for both men and women.

The L’Etape route, starting at Bullocks Flat on the Alpine Way will pass through the towns of Jindabyne, Berridale and Dalgety. Locals will again get into the L’Etape spirit by creating cycling inspired artworks along the course and cheering riders as they pass. A local community course artwork competition, sponsored by Snowy Hydro, will be part of this year’s event, with great prizes to be awarded to the best creations.  

The heart of the event will be the L’Etape Australia Village at Bullock’s Flat which will be hosted by Snowy Hydro as part of its sponsorship agreement.  The Village will be the social, administrative and commercial heart of the event.

For more information about L’Etape: info@letapeaustralia.com.au or to register go to: https://letapeaustralia.com/  
For Snowy Hydro  enquiries: Neil Thew 0428 400 848  or email  community@snowyhydro.com.au

News

Snowy Hydro and SMEC reunite for Snowy 2.0

11/05/2017

Snowy Hydro Limited and the Snowy Mountains Engineering Corporation Australia (SMEC) will join forces once again, this time to carry out the feasibility study into the potential expansion of the Snowy Scheme’s pumped hydro storage capability.

Snowy Hydro and SMEC have a long association and worked together from the earliest days to develop the iconic 4,100 megawatt (MW) Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric Scheme under the auspices of the Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric Authority, established in 1949.

Selected through a tender competitive process which attracted interest from a field of world-class engineering firms, SMEC has now been appointed as the lead consultant engineer for the feasibility study into the first major expansion of the Scheme since construction days.

Snowy Hydro CEO Paul Broad said “SMEC was the obvious choice to partner with us on the study, given we share the same DNA. It really is a case of getting the band back together. The task now will be to bring together our best and brightest to revisit some of the visionary proposals developed over many years by the talented men and women who built the Scheme.”

The feasibility study will first review existing proposals to expand pumped hydro storage on the Snowy Scheme, many of which have existed since the 1960s. Under the most prospective proposal, up to 2,000 MW of hydro-electric energy could be added to the grid to act as rapid response back-up during periods of high demand and fill the gaps in energy supply caused by the growth in intermittent renewables and the exit of thermal baseload power.

The pumped hydro capability means the water utilised for electricity generation can be recycled to provide supply when it’s needed most, with no impact on the Scheme’s ability to continue to supply valuable water to irrigators in the food bowl of south-eastern Australia.

“This project has the potential to deliver one of the largest pumped hydro schemes in the world and underscores the importance of the Scheme’s existing role as the battery of the National Electricity Market.”

“While it has long been an Australian engineering icon, the importance of the Snowy Scheme’s role as the battery storage of the NEM will only become more critical as we move to a low carbon economy. The reliable, fast-start Scheme can help to responsibly manage the exit of baseload thermal power and the rise of intermittent renewables.

“As we move through the feasibility study phase, we will gain greater clarity around the technical and engineering requirements for the expansion as well as costs and timeframes for its construction”, Mr Broad said.

SMEC CEO Andy Goodwin said “Snowy Mountains are part of our namesake and the backbone of our heritage, so the chance to be involved in this project again is a unique ‘twice-in-a-lifetime’ opportunity, both for our organisation and those engineers who worked on the original scheme.

The Snowy 2.0 project will provide us with new design challenges from its predecessor and we’ve created a team of our most experienced specialists to deliver the feasibility stage.

We’re honoured to be part of the project and looking forward to resuming our presence within the Cooma community again.”

SMEC’s appointment will deliver significant benefits to the local Snowy Mountains community. As part of its commitment to this project, SMEC will reopen its previous offices in Cooma, which will see more than 30 staff permanently based in the town.