Announcement on Snowy Hydro scheme after six months of drilling

A feasibility study is expected to give the $2 billion project the green light with more than 5000 jobs expected to be created and power for 500,000 homes created.

The long wait for the feasibility study will finally come to an end tomorrow morning with still two steps to go before the project gets final approval by Snowy Hydro’s board and main stakeholders. Final approval is expected mid next year.

It is believed Snowy Hydro can fund the project within its own budget. The scheme will be a back-up to the National Energy Market and is touted as giving certainty to renewables through water storages at Tantangara Dam and the Talbingo Reservoir.

The massive engineering project will see 27km of tunnels built with one shaft falling 700m straight down into an underground generation chamber, located 1km under the ground in the northern part of Kosciuszko National Park.

The project will be a big boon to towns such as Cooma and Tumut in the Snowy Mountains. Work is expected to start later next year with up to 30 drilling sites expected from early next year. One drilling operation near Kiandra found 20 different types of rock in the drilling area. The core samples went down more than 1km.