Snowy works to free Florence at $12b mega-project
The Florence tunnel boring machine stuck underground at the Snowy 2.0 construction project in NSW has made “bugger all” progress since it was commissioned in March last year, says Snowy Hydro chief executive Dennis Barnes, who is however hopeful the huge machine will resume its three-year tunnelling job again within weeks.
Speaking a day after Snowy announced a cost blowout to $12 billion for the Snowy 2.0 pumped hydro project on Thursday, Mr Barnes said Snowy would lodge a modification to its environmental impact approval to the NSW Department of Planning and Environment next week to allow work to restart.
Inside the Florence tunnel boring machine that has been essentially stuck in soft ground at the Snowy 2.0 construction project for almost a year.
The 2000-tonne Florence, one of three tunnel boring machines deployed in the construction of what is the country’s biggest renewable energy project, has been mired in soft ground for about a year, moving only a few metres to allow adjustments to be made so it can operate in “slurry mode” to cope with the conditions.
The stalling of Florence has contributed to the huge cost overrun for Snowy 2.0, a project that the Australian Energy Market Operator says is vital to underpin the transition to low-carbon energy in the east coast grid by helping fill the gaps between weather-dependent wind and solar power. The project is now expected to be fully online in December 2028, and the revised $12 billion cost – up from last year’s estimate of $5.9 billion – is based on that completion date.
Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen said the project still represented value for money at the increased cost.
“Every major construction project in the world is going through these cost
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