PM Malcolm Turnbull says Snowy River expansion could be a ‘game changer’ for national power needs
A “GAME-changing” expansion of the Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric Scheme is set to give South Australia access to a new source of power and help protect the national electricity grid from blackouts.
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A “GAME-changing” expansion of the Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric Scheme is set to give South Australia access to a new source of power and help protect the national electricity grid from blackouts.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull will on Thursday announce “Snowy Mountains Scheme 2.0” — a historic plan to boost the capacity of the NSW-based Snowy scheme by 50 per cent.
The plan will add 2000 megawatts of renewable energy to the National Electricity Market, enough to power half a million homes.
Mr Turnbull on Wednesday night described the plan as an “electricity game-changer”.
“The unprecedented expansion will help make renewables reliable, filling in holes caused by intermittent supply and generator outages. It will enable greater energy efficiency and help stabilise electricity supply into the future,” he said.
“This will ultimately mean cheaper power prices and more money in the pockets of Australians.”
The expansion is expected to cost about $2 billion and involve the use of large-scale pumped hydro-electric energy storage technology and the construction of new power stations and tunnels.
The Snowy scheme already provides power to NSW and Victoria and will be able to supply SA once the extension is completed.
Mr Turnbull said the expanded Snowy would produce far more power than Premier Jay Weatherill’s plan for Australia’s largest battery.
“In one hour it could produce 20 times the 100Mw/h expected from the battery proposed by the SA Government, but would deliver it constantly for almost a week,’’ he said.
A feasibility study is due to be completed by the end of this year, with construction work to begin in 2018.
Critics will likely point to the expansion replacing the 1600Mw of generating capacity once Victoria’s Hazelwood station closes this month.
The Snowy Hydro is jointly owned by the NSW, Victorian and federal governments. The Snowy Mountains scheme, built between 1949 and 1974, involved construction of seven power stations, 16 major dams and 145km of tunnels.
The expansion also dwarfs the SA Government’s 250Mw gas-fired power station, announced on Tuesday as part of Premier Jay Weatherill’s $550 million plan to secure the state’s energy future.
The State Government on Wednesday said it would soon begin a process to determine who could build the plant and how quickly.
SA Power Networks would meanwhile investigate getting 200Mw of temporary generators on line by December if a permanent power station can’t be built before summer.
Mr Weatherill on Wednesday also opened a two-week expression-of-interest period for national and international companies interested in building the 100Mw battery.
Opposition Leader Steven Marshall accused Mr Weatherill of burning his green credentials with diesel generators.
But Mr Weatherill said the Government would preference cleaner forms of generation if it was within the funding limit.
— WITH ADAM LANGENBERG