An ambitious multi-billion-dollar expansion of the iconic Snowy Hydro project could cost more than twice as much as previously thought, but the Prime Minister argues it's still a viable project.

Snowy Hydro Limited will release a feasibility study into the expansion today, claiming the project is both technically and financially able to go ahead.

The company's chief executive, Paul Broad, says the costs have increased from the initial $2 billion price tag, to somewhere between $3.8 and $4.5 billion.

"The board is committed to doing $60 million worth of work in the next six months to refine those costs and we expect [the cost] is at the lower end of the spectrum," Mr Broad said.

"It's expensive, but it stacks up economically."

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By the time it is "finished" this project will be obsolete and economically not viable...  The point here is one has to consider the "down-time" in electricity usage...  and ongoing droughts, with global warming leading to less snow in the Snowies... Using surplus electricity from the dam to pump water back up would actually burn the resources from wind farms and solar farms which would be better stored "instantly" in big battery systems. 

Anyone with a decent knowledge of upward shit-pumping would know that in order to pump water back to the top level from the bottom level, the electricity produced by the snowy scheme would not be sufficient. It's entropy, it's the impossibility of the perpetual motion creating energy surplus (see too above). It's not possible. Thus in order to pump the water from the bottom level back to the top level, EXTRA energy from other sources would have to be used. This would be from gas or coal power stations, or from solar farms and wind turbine generators. Thus I can see the sneaky Malcolm's plan for snowy 2.0 is to discreetly force the implementation of more wind turbines to provide the excess electricity to pump upwards. As every school boy (and girl) knows, pumps also need to be located no more that 10 metres above the bottom level otherwise they'd be pumping nothing — and there might be the need to create intermediate reservoirs and several pumping stations on the way upwards... a bit complicated and one needs to believe that the reduction of winter snow and evaporation won't affect the system.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - China successfully tested its first photovoltaic highway, based on home-grown technology, in the country’s eastern Shandong province on Thursday, China Central Television (CCTV) said in a video report posted on its official social media account.

The 1-kilometer (0.62-mile) segment of solar-powered highway covers a surface area of 5,875 square meters (about 63,238 square feet), with three layers including translucent concrete on the top, photovoltaic panels in the middle, and insulation on the bottom, the broadcaster specified.

A mini-bus traveled at the speed of 100 kilometers (62 miles) per hour over the tested road, with the driver praising the braking distance of the new surface as almost identical to that of a traditional asphalt surface, according to the CCTV report.

Read more:

https://sputniknews.com/science/201712281060386063-china-photovoltaic-hi...

Engineers want to turn the dam into a vast reservoir of excess electricity from the solar farms and wind turbines that represent the power sources of the future.

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Before work on the Snowy 2.0 energy project has even begun, scientists are voicing concerns about proposed exploration works — including "contentious" plans to dump spoil in a reservoir.

Details are contained in an environmental impact statement (EIS) currently on public exhibition and being assessed by the NSW State Government.

In it, Snowy Hydro Limited outlines its intention to blast and drill a 3.1 kilometre tunnel to test rock conditions in preparation for designing a subterranean power station.

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http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-08-05/snowy-hydro-plans-raise-enironment...

Former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull’s vision for the Snowy 2.0 pumped hydro scheme to power Australia’s renewable energy future looks like coming at a huge cost.

Although a 2000-page environmental impact assessment released last week has given a green light to the largest electricity infrastructure project ever undertaken, expert objections to its cost in financial and environmental terms are alarming.

“Initially promised at $2 billion, it was quickly revised to $4 billion and a contract for part of its construction has been agreed at $5.1 billion,” said Dr Bruce Mountain, director of the Victoria Energy Policy Centre.

And the New South Wales National Parks Association executive officer Gary Dunnett said in a statement that Kosciuszko National Park would be partially destroyed. 

Twenty square kilometres of largely undisturbed native alpine bush would be affected, with nine million cubic metres of excavated rock spoil to be dumped throughout the park including in existing reservoirs, reducing their active storage capacities and stream flows.

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https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/national/2019/10/03/snowy-2-0-vision-cost/

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The beleaguered Snowy Hydro 2.0 scheme is facing another setback, after bushfires hit the renewable energy project on multiple fronts.

• Snowy Hydro has lost more than half the homes at its operational town as well as sustained damage to heavy machinery and communications equipment
• Its CEO says the company will rebuild its damaged sites
• The MP for Eden-Monaro, a former soldier, compared the bushfire damage in NSW to destruction in war-torn areas

Snowy Hydro has lost more than half of the homes at its operational town of Cabramurra, high in the Snowy Mountains.

After Cabramurra's destruction, the fires then raced through a remote part of the Kosciuszko National Park that is the site of Snowy Hydro's landmark 2.0 project.

Snowy Hydro CEO Paul Broad said he was anticipating significant loss of heavy machinery and communications equipment.

It is a further hit to the renewable energy project, which has already faced significant cost blowouts and delays.

The weather station in Cabramurra recorded temperatures of 66.3 degrees when the blaze came through, with wind gusts up to 128 kilometres per hour.

The town was evacuated ahead of the fire front, which destroyed workers' houses, a school and a ski club.

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https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-01-07/fires-bushfires-snowy-hydro-cabra...

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Engineers, economists, energy specialists and environmentalists are calling for a final decision on the Snowy Hydro 2.0 project to be delayed to allow an independent review, claiming it will cost far more and deliver far less than has been promised.

The group of 30 said the 2,000-megawatt pumped hydro storage project in the Snowy Mountains would permanently damage the Kosciuszko national park.

“Snowy 2.0 is not as it has been publicly portrayed,” they said in a joint statement. “There are many alternatives that are more efficient, cheaper, quicker to construct and incur less [greenhouse gas] emissions and environmental impacts.”

Read more:

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/mar/28/snowy-hydro-20-wi...

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