{"id":255957,"date":"2023-05-04T18:20:34","date_gmt":"2023-05-04T16:20:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=255957"},"modified":"2023-05-04T18:20:37","modified_gmt":"2023-05-04T16:20:37","slug":"aussie-green-energy-shock-snowy-hydro-cost-and-completion-time-blowout","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=255957","title":{"rendered":"Aussie Green Energy Shock: Snowy Hydro Cost and Completion Time Blowout"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From Watts Up With That?<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Essay by Eric Worrall<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Snowy River from McKillops Road. By The original uploader was Tirin at English Wikipedia. – Transferred from en.wikipedia to Commons by Berichard using CommonsHelper., CC BY-SA 3.0,\u00a0link<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As coal power operators respond to the new carbon tax by accelerating plant closures, Australia\u2019s big battery, the Snowy 2 pumped hydro project, has just announced more cost and delivery time blowouts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

Power grid at risk as Snowy 2.0 finish date blows out<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Angela Macdonald-Smith<\/a><\/strong> Senior resources writer<\/em>
Updated May 3, 2023 \u2013 10.27am<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Snowy Hydro has advised that its troubled Snowy 2.0 pumped hydro storage project in NSW will overrun its already-revised $5.9 billion budget and may not be fully online until the end of the decade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The latest delay, of as much as two years, looks set to intensify worries about the reliability of the east coast electricity grid as owners of coal power stations accelerate closure plans<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The federal government-owned company said it is working to \u201creset\u201d the timetable and budget for the project with key contractor Future Generation Joint Venture, controlled by Italy\u2019s Webuild.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the huge tunnel boring machines used at the project, a 2000-tonne machine named Florence, has been essentially stuck for months in soft ground<\/a>, while a \u201cdepression\u201d has appeared on the surface, 30 metres above where it is located. Work is under way to stabilise the ground to allow the machine to resume tunnelling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2026Read more (paywalled): https:\/\/www.afr.com\/companies\/energy\/snowy-2-0-faces-further-cost-increases-delays-20230503-p5d54v<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Even when the Snowy 2 pumped hydro storage is complete, if it ever completes, serious doubts have been expressed about its viability as a giant renewable backup battery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The following was published last year in the Sydney Morning Herald \u2013 Australia\u2019s answer to the New York Times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

Five years on, Snowy 2.0 emerges as a $10 billion white elephant<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Ted Woodley<\/strong>
March 15, 2022 \u2014 5.00am<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Five years ago on Tuesday, then prime minister Malcolm Turnbull announced, with great fanfare, the Snowy 2.0 pumped hydro project: \u201cThe Turnbull Government will start work on an electricity game-changer \u2026 This plan will increase the generation of the Snowy Hydro scheme by 50 per cent, adding 2000 megawatts of renewable energy to the National Electricity Market (NEM).\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Senate Estimates papers confirm the announcement was cobbled together in less than two <\/a>weeks after the concept was floated by Snowy Hydro.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The nation-building vision was for a big battery to be added to the Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric Scheme. It was to be completed in four years (that is, by last year) at a cost of $2 billion without any taxpayer subsidy, bring down electricity prices, generate renewable energy and incur minimal environmental impact on Kosciuszko National Park.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Inspiring stuff. But not one of these grand claims has turned out to be true. Worse, Australian taxpayers and NSW electricity consumers will be up for billions of dollars in subsidies and increased electricity costs, all while Kosciuszko is trashed. Let\u2019s have a quick recap.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2026 Transmission tariffs in NSW will increase by more than 50 per cent<\/a> if the NSW government allows Snowy Hydro to get its way, based on analysis in a Victoria Energy Policy Centre report.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Far from bringing electricity prices down, Snowy Hydro\u2019s own modelling<\/a> predicts that prices will rise because of Snowy 2.0.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As far as the claim that Snowy 2.0 will add 2000 megawatts of renewable energy to the National Electricity Market, Snowy 2.0 is not a conventional hydro station generating renewable energy. It is no different to any other battery, and as such it will be a net load on the NEM. For every 100 units of electricity purchased from the NEM to pump water uphill, only 75 units are returned when the water flows back down through the turbine generators. Not only is the electricity generated not renewable, Snowy 2.0 will be the most inefficient battery on the NEM, losing 25 per cent of energy cycled.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are many cheaper, more efficient and far less environmentally destructive energy storage alternatives.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2026Read more: https:\/\/www.smh.com.au\/national\/five-years-on-snowy-2-0-emerges-as-a-10-billion-white-elephant-20220310-p5a3ge.html<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Australia has just advanced another step towards that green energy wall<\/a> WUWT described. I think we can safely conclude Australia is aiming for a head first collision, at running speed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even if you believe the renewable energy fairy can deliver, Australia\u2019s coal plant closure timetable was already looking terrifyingly tight. Australia\u2019s newly introduced carbon tax<\/a> just adds to the pressure to close coal plants, regardless of whether the green energy infrastructure meant to replace coal is ready.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Coal plant owners don\u2019t have an obligation to keep the grid viable, their duty is to shareholders. Keeping the grid stable is the government\u2019s responsibility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

5<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As coal power operators respond to the new carbon tax by accelerating plant closures, Australia\u2019s big battery, the Snowy 2 pumped hydro project, has just announced more cost and delivery time blowouts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":255963,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_crdt_document":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[691818216,691819316,691819317],"class_list":{"0":"post-255957","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"hentry","7":"category-uncategorized","8":"tag-australia","9":"tag-coal-plant","10":"tag-snowy-hydro","12":"fallback-thumbnail"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/0Aussie-snowy-hydro.jpg?fit=1280%2C720&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-14Al","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":333531,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=333531","url_meta":{"origin":255957,"position":0},"title":"Coal power could have saved these trees: Clearing forest for Snowy Hydro transmission lines","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"21\/06\/2024","format":false,"excerpt":"In a quest to make the weather a bit nicer in 100 years these trees needed to be cut down now so we can connect up a big hydropower \u201cbattery\u201d for holy solar and wind power. The towers will be 75m high and the path through the forest, 140m wide.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Geoff Wise\"","block_context":{"text":"Geoff Wise","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=geoff-wise"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/0447612574_970695301426364_2367682730979817142_n.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/0447612574_970695301426364_2367682730979817142_n.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/0447612574_970695301426364_2367682730979817142_n.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/0447612574_970695301426364_2367682730979817142_n.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/0447612574_970695301426364_2367682730979817142_n.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":284849,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=284849","url_meta":{"origin":255957,"position":1},"title":"Snowy 2.0, doomed from the start \u2014 after the sinkhole came the poison gas, \u201cworst major project in history\u201d","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"24\/10\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"There was no press release to notify the public when the attempt to stabilise the ground around Florence\u00a0caused toxic gas to fill the tunnel. The AWU says workers who refused to continue their shift that chilly July night were told that it was just water vapour. Only later was it\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Australia\"","block_context":{"text":"Australia","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=australia"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/00Screenshot-2023-10-24-190803.png?fit=1200%2C692&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/00Screenshot-2023-10-24-190803.png?fit=1200%2C692&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/00Screenshot-2023-10-24-190803.png?fit=1200%2C692&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/00Screenshot-2023-10-24-190803.png?fit=1200%2C692&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/00Screenshot-2023-10-24-190803.png?fit=1200%2C692&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":247128,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=247128","url_meta":{"origin":255957,"position":2},"title":"All Downhill: Australia\u2019s Largest Pumped Hydro Scheme Grinds to Insanely Costly Halt","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"06\/03\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Loose talk about \u2018green\u2019 hydrogen, mega-batteries and pumped hydro is the default response from rent seekers forced to face up to wind and solar\u2019s hopeless intermittency.","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image-267.png?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image-267.png?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image-267.png?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image-267.png?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image-267.png?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":256879,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=256879","url_meta":{"origin":255957,"position":3},"title":"Energy Transition Turns High Farce: Power Prices Surge 80% After Coal-Fired Plant Shutdown","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"11\/05\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Destroying coal-fired power plants is all part of the grand wind and solar \u2018transition\u2019 and precisely the point of the subsidies to wind and solar which are designed to allow the unreliables to undercut cheap and reliable coal-fired power, thereby driving coal-fired plants out of business.","rel":"","context":"In \"Blackouts\"","block_context":{"text":"Blackouts","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=blackouts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/05f9c7bcf518aeebacb518d5d5798cf50.jpeg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/05f9c7bcf518aeebacb518d5d5798cf50.jpeg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/05f9c7bcf518aeebacb518d5d5798cf50.jpeg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/05f9c7bcf518aeebacb518d5d5798cf50.jpeg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/05f9c7bcf518aeebacb518d5d5798cf50.jpeg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":335496,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=335496","url_meta":{"origin":255957,"position":4},"title":"Green Baloney, Hype and Fairy Tales in\u00a0Australia","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"04\/07\/2024","format":false,"excerpt":"How low Australia has fallen\u2026 Our once-great BHP now has a \u2018Vice President for Sustainability and Climate Change\u2019, the number of Australian students choosing physics at high school is collapsing, and our government opposes nuclear energy while pretending we can build and operate nuclear submarines.","rel":"","context":"In \"Australia\"","block_context":{"text":"Australia","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=australia"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/OIG-6.jpeg?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/OIG-6.jpeg?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/OIG-6.jpeg?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/OIG-6.jpeg?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":257277,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=257277","url_meta":{"origin":255957,"position":5},"title":"Snowy 2. NOTHING: Giant Pumped Hydro Scheme Becomes Costly & Pointless\u00a0Disaster","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"13\/05\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Along with giant batteries and \u2018green\u2019 hydrogen, pumped hydro is touted as the solution to wind and solar power\u2019s hopeless intermittency. Five years ago, Australia\u2019s PM, Malcolm Turnbull pitched his very own mega-pumped hydro project, tagged Snowy 2.0.","rel":"","context":"In \"environmental destruction\"","block_context":{"text":"environmental destruction","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=environmental-destruction"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/0336-snowy-20.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/0336-snowy-20.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/0336-snowy-20.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/0336-snowy-20.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/0336-snowy-20.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255957","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/121246920"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=255957"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255957\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":255965,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255957\/revisions\/255965"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/255963"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=255957"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=255957"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=255957"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}