News

Expanding Pumped Hydro Storage

15/03/2017

The iconic Snowy Scheme’s role as the battery of the National Electricity Market (NEM) could be supercharged as part of plans to expand the pumped hydro storage capability within the Scheme.
Snowy Hydro, working with the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA), will shortly commence a feasibility study into several sites across the Scheme which could support new large-scale, pumped hydro-electric energy storage.

The proposal could add up to 2000 megawatts of new renewable energy to the NEM and act as rapid response back-up to fill the gaps in energy supply caused by intermittent renewables and generator outages.

The pumped hydro capability means the water utilised for electricity generation can be recycled to give continuous 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 Australia.

Snowy Hydro Managing Director and CEO, Paul Broad, said the proposal has the potential to deliver an innovative clean-energy solution to the critical security and supply issues in the NEM, helping to take the pressure off power prices for consumers and businesses, while reducing emissions.

“From our earliest days, Snowy Hydro has been moving water to support the irrigators in the food bowl of Australia and generating electricity during peak demands to keep the lights on in the NEM,” Mr Broad, said.

“The creators of the Scheme foresaw a time when its capabilities may need to be expanded and, as a result, there are very real options in-built in the Scheme’s design to extract more value to the community.

“At a time when the security and stability of the NEM, energy affordability and emissions reduction are under scrutiny, there is an opportunity to leverage the iconic Snowy Scheme to once again deliver an energy solution for the country.

“By supercharging the utilisation of the Snowy Scheme’s storage, we can help the NEM best cope with peak demand through new supply at a time when baseload energy is exiting the market and renewables with intermittent generation are not providing the reliable capacity needed by Australian businesses and consumers.

“While the feasibility study is the first step, this project could once again bring together the world’s best and brightest engineers and technicians to enhance a national icon.”

The Scheme itself already operates as the ‘battery storage’ of the NEM, utilising dams to store energy in the form of water that can be delivered to the grid within minutes through the fast start capabilities of the Scheme’s nine power stations.

There are a number of sites across the Scheme capable of supercharging Snowy Hydro’s storage capability – providing additional generation capacity, helping the security and stability of the NEM, and with pumping capability to maximise the water resources and existing dam storage in the Scheme. The most prospective project could increase the capacity of the 4100 megawatt Snowy Scheme by 50 per cent and result in a power station at least as powerful as Snowy Hydro’s 1800 megawatt Tumut 3 Power Station, which already includes pumped hydro capability.

The feasibility study will explore the physical, technical and environmental requirements for expansion of pumped hydro at sites across the Scheme, the potential output of new pumped hydro facilities and the costs associated with each project.

The Australian Government, through ARENA, is negotiating grant funding to support the Snowy Hydro feasibility work as part of ARENA’s ongoing efforts to accelerate Australia’s shift to renewable energy.

ARENA CEO Ivor Frischknecht said expanding the Snowy Scheme could help to deliver ARENA’s goal of ensuring a smooth transition to a renewable energy future.

“Australia’s energy system is rapidly evolving and ARENA is funding solutions like pumped hydro storage that provide consumers with more affordable and reliable renewable energy,” Mr Frischknecht said.

“Pumped hydro is economically viable right now and supports our grids by providing long term energy storage capacity that’s available on demand.”

News

SA Solar Investment

01/02/2017

Snowy Hydro Limited will invest in a battery ready 100 megawatt solar facility in Tailem Bend in South Australia to boost its generation capacity and grow its electricity retail business – Lumo Energy.

By entering into a long-term agreement with experienced renewable energy investor and developer Equis, Snowy Hydro will be able to access 100 megawatts of renewable solar generation on completion of the solar farm in 2018, with the ability to install up to 100 megawatts of large-scale battery storage on the Tailem Bend site.

“This is an exciting opportunity for Snowy Hydro to source renewable generation in South Australia to complement our existing capacity,” Snowy Hydro CEO and Managing Director Paul Broad said.

“The solar farm represents a significant, strategic investment in South Australia by Snowy Hydro and demonstrates our commitment to growing both our generation business and our Lumo Energy business, which services around 50,000 electricity customers in the State.

“We are pleased to be working with Equis to deliver more renewable energy to South Australia, backed by reliable fast-start thermal capacity. Importantly, this unique generation facility at Tailem Bend is also ‘battery ready’ with the ability to install up to 100 megawatts of large-scale battery storage on the site.”

David Russell, CEO of Equis, said: “As Asia’s largest renewable energy developer and investor, the Tailem Bend solar project represents an exciting expansion into Australia for Equis and an unique opportunity to leverage our development and construction expertise to deliver large scale, reliable renewable energy for Australian consumers.

“We are delighted to partner Snowy Hydro on the Tailem Bend solar project to build one of Australia’s lowest cost solar generation projects with a unique “battery-storage ready” design, further enhancing the project’s long term attractiveness as a stable, low cost source of power.”

Snowy Hydro currently owns and operates 5500 megawatts of generation capacity across Australia, including the iconic 4100 megawatt Snowy Hydro-electric Scheme in the Snowy Mountains region of NSW.

The Tailem Bend project will mean Snowy Hydro has access to 264 megawatts of generation capacity in South Australia. The company already operates 136 megawatts of thermal capacity at Port Stanvac and Angaston and will add a further 28 megawatts of diesel generation at the Tailem Bend site from 2017.

“We combine the power of the mighty Snowy Scheme with gas and diesel fired peaking generators to deliver a flexible and reliable mix of energy to our growing customer base every day,” Mr Broad said.

“We have been keeping the lights on in NSW and Victoria since construction days in the 1950s and are one of the most experienced and diverse companies operating in the National Electricity Market.

“Through our award winning retail companies – Red Energy and Lumo Energy – Snowy Hydro services more than one million gas and electricity customer accounts. We pride ourselves on superior customer service and look forward to growing our Lumo Energy retail customer base in South Australia.”

News

Keeping the lights on

22/12/2016

CEO, Paul Broad, weighs in on the recent blackouts in South Australia and the implications for the National Electricity Market…

Australia has been blessed with relatively cheap energy and we have grown as a nation as a result of it. A key part of that growth has been having enormous renewable resources such as Snowy and Hydro Tasmania, which have played an integral part in keeping the lights on with our reliable, fast-start responsiveness to the market. Equally so, in Snowy’s case, we provide more than 32 per cent of all renewable energy that is produced in this country. This clean, efficient and renewable energy continues to help light up homes and businesses in the Eastern states including South Australia and Tasmania.

The Snowy Scheme was visionary in its day and is an important part of our nation’s history. It was an amazing engineering success to make true the vision to collect and move water east to west and into the growing food bowl of Australia and to pay for it through electricity generation. This is still the vision we have today, but we have evolved over the years through innovation and diversification, and have gone beyond what our founding fathers had envisaged.

The modern Snowy Hydro operates a complex, integrated end to end energy business, which we are immensely proud of.

We continue to be the proud custodians of water that is collectively owned by the people of NSW and Victoria, and manage it under a strict Water Licence regime. Water in the Scheme plays a critical role as it not only underwrites the production of agricultural products worth around $3 billion each year, but through the Water Licence it also assists with counteracting the effects of severe droughts and improving productivity in the Murray Darling Basin. We are the leading provider of peak, renewable energy in the country. We also provide price risk management products for wholesale customers in the NEM and through Red Energy and Lumo, we deliver electricity and gas to homes and businesses. Finally, our ability to utilise the Scheme’s large, reliable, flexible and fast-start capability to our advantage also means that we play a critical role in keeping the lights on and are best placed to provide black start capability. It is disappointing that some regulators do not see it that way, given we are not currently part of AEMO’s contracted black-start arrangements, despite previously providing the service for many years and dedicating resources to respond quickly and safely.

On the recent statewide blackout in South Australia, I cannot help but reflect that if South Australia was fully interconnected with NSW, then the lights would have never gone out. The NEM has delivered very robust and efficient outcomes and, if left to its own devices, can deliver affordable energy to consumers drawing on the most efficient and effective means of generation to meet demand. But regulatory intervention and second best policy choices can often create problems, as they are now, by creating distortions in the market for which end-users ultimately pay the price. This is not the time to be picking winners or imposing solutions, but rather a time to trust the market to do what it does best. A more sensible approach could ensure we maintain a secure, reliable, affordable energy system while at the same time reducing emissions through a market based mechanism.

At Snowy we recognised that the uncertainty put into the NEM by knee-jerk reactions will be a challenge for the future and that Snowy will play integral role in filling in the gaps when the wind is not blowing and the sun is not shining, particularly in NSW. In the wake of South Australia, we are urging governments and regulators to ensure that there are proven, reliable ‘black-start’ arrangements in place across the country to both keep the lights on and to ensure they are turned back on quickly in the event that things go wrong.

Snowy has always played a critical role in keeping the lights on, from our earliest days. Our contribution to the nation since construction began in 1949 was formally recognised in October when the Commonwealth Government added the Snowy Scheme to the National Heritage List. The addition to the National Heritage List is recognition of our important place in Australia’s history and the contribution we have made to the social and economic fabric of the country. It’s an important nod to our past and helps new generations to appreciate the sacrifice and skill of the many thousands of Australians and new arrivals who helped build the Snowy Scheme. Importantly, the listing does not impact on our important operations nor on our ability to operate, modernise and upgrade the Scheme for the benefit of future generations.

As 2016 draws to a close, at Snowy Hydro we have had another successful year across both our retail and generation businesses. This time last year we were reflecting on the contribution made by the expansion of our retail energy business (with the acquisition of Lumo and Direct Connect) and the addition of the gas fired power station at Colongra to our generation portfolio. Those acquisitions (in late 2014 and early 2015) have paid off through their contribution to our financial performance and management of our exposure to transmission risk, should our Snowy Scheme assets become constrained if lines went down into Sydney or Victoria. 2016 has also been about consolidation and growth. For the first time in the company’s history we made more than $2 billion in revenue, we recorded more than $500 million pre-tax profit and hit the significant milestone of more than one million retail customers.

Finally, as always, I would like to thank you for your support for Snowy Hydro this year. We look forward to sharing more news about our business in 2017. On behalf of everyone who works for Snowy Hydro, I wish you a safe, prosperous and happy festive season.

News

Snowy Hydro releases Annual Review for 2015

12/11/2015

In 2015 Snowy Hydro released an Annual Review documment. This review outlines our financial, environmental and safety performance across the year as well as our contribution to the communities we operate in. If you would like to download a copy click here

News

Asset Inspection & Maintenance

20/07/2015

Snowy Hydro is again trialling the use of unmanned submersible vehicles to monitor the condition of hard to access Scheme assets.

While the Snowy Scheme is one of the civil engineering wonders of the modern world, many of its assets are difficult to reach due to the Snowy Mountains terrain and the challenges associated with the sheer volume of water flowing through the Scheme.

With the help of Perth-based company Synaya, the Civil Engineering and Dam Safety team are using a Mini Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) to conduct inspections of some of our hard to access assets, such as the Guthega Surge Tank and Island Bend intake structure.

The ROV is a small, submersible vehicle operated from the surface of the water via a tether. Equipped with miniature high-resolution cameras, lights and video recording equipment, they can be used to assess the condition of underwater civil assets. The information they collect determines future inspection frequencies, maintenance requirements and accurate scoping of projects.

The Mini-ROV, a Seabotix LVB150 weighing approximately 12 kilograms, was used as part of a successful trial where a variety of tests were performed to assess its manoeuvrability, visibility and access. Results showed that these observation vehicles reduce the safety risk to staff by eliminating the need for someone to physically enter tunnels for inspections, reduce the environmental impact associated with dewatering assets and they also reduce the need for extensive outage times.

It also provides access to extensive visual data, which can be referenced in the future to more accurately assess what stage of the asset’s lifecycle it’s in.

Using technology of this kind is not new for Snowy Hydro; in 2013, we used a larger unmanned underwater vehicle to inspect multiple tunnels within the Scheme for maintenance. We were awarded an Australian Business Award for Innovation and also broke a world record for the longest, unmanned underwater tunnel inspection. We have also trialled the use of unmanned aerial vehicles, or drones, to inspect our assets from the air.

In future, this unmanned technology will continue to be used to inspect difficult to access assets of the Scheme ensuring the safety of our people and keeping our assets in peak condition.