27 September 2021

Following a competitive procurement process and global search, a contract was signed with Mitsubishi Power to deliver two 330MW world-leading and hydrogen-ready F-Class open cycle gas turbines (OCGT). The Hunter Power Project will underpin greater investment in renewables, firming up an estimated 1.5 to 2GW of renewables from within Snowy’s portfolio. That’s equivalent to 160,000 household solar installations.

Our first tunnel boring machine, the Lady Eileen Hudson, is on the move. Named after an important Snowy Scheme ambassador and the wife of inaugural Scheme Commissioner Sir William Hudson, the Lady Eileen Hudson TBM is excavating the 2.6km main access tunnel down to the underground power station cavern. The TBM is 137 metres long and has an 11m diameter – as high as a three-storey building.

We are excited to announce the winning names for our final two tunnel boring machines (TBMs) – Kirsten and Florence.

Students in the Snowy Mountains nominated groundbreaking Australian women in science, technology engineering and maths (STEM) for the Snowy 2.0 TBM Naming Competition. 

Almost 3,000 people voted on a shortlist of six influential women, with astrophysicist Kirsten Banks and Australia’s first electrical engineer Florence Violet McKenzie receiving majority votes.

At the Polo Flat segment factory – which will produce more than 130,000 seven-tonne concrete segments to line the Snowy 2.0 tunnels – the construction of two automatic carousels is close to completion and there’s about 100 people working onsite.

On 3 December 2021, we commissioned our second tunnel boring machine (TBM), Kirsten. It was an exciting moment for TBM namesake, Australian astrophysicist and Wiradjuri woman Kirsten Banks, and 10-year-old Brungle student Kobe Burnes, who nominated Kirsten as part of the Snowy 2.0 TBM Naming Competition.

Good progress continues to be made at Tantangara (eastern end of the Snowy 2.0 project), with the headrace tunnel adit and tunnel boring machine cradle almost complete.

Other works underway include the cofferdam, concrete batch plant and water treatment plant, and worker camp.

On 22 March, the local community came together to celebrate the commissioning of tunnel boring machine (TBM) Florence. Named after Australia’s first female electrical engineer, Florence Violet McKenzie (1890-1982), TBM Florence is set to excavate about 15 kilometres of the 17km headrace tunnel. TBM Florence was named by local Berridale student Riley Douch who along with his family visited Tantangara today for the TBM commissioning community event.

Snowy Hydro is celebrating the completion of excavation for its first tunnel for Snowy 2.0, with the Lady Eileen Hudson tunnel boring machine (TBM) reaching the location of the new underground power station cavern. The 11-metre diameter TBM has excavated 2.85km to create the main access tunnel at Lobs Hole in the Snowy Mountains, where a workforce of more than 2,200 people are building Snowy 2.0 – the 2,200 megawatt pumped hydro expansion of the mighty Snowy Scheme.

The Snowy 2.0 pumped-hydro mega project has achieved another important construction milestone, with a second tunnel excavation completed at Lobs Hole in the Snowy Mountains. The 2.93-kilometre emergency, cable and ventilation tunnel (ECVT) has been excavated and fully lined with 13,140 locally-manufactured concrete segments by tunnel boring machine (TBM) Kirsten. This achievement follows the excavation of the adjacent main access tunnel (MAT), which was completed in October 2022.