Australia’s largest committed renewables project Snowy 2.0 to be delayed by up to two years

Snowy 2.0 hydroelectric, Australia’s largest committed renewables project, was announced to be delayed by one to two years last week.

Snowy 2.0 is a vast hydroelectric project, which is expected to have a 2 GW capacity and 350,000 MWh of large-scale storage and help Australia reach its goals of producing 82% of its total energy from renewable sources by 2030.

The project has faced some serious setbacks, which include a contractor’s collapse, as well as one of the three project’s Tunnel Boring Machines getting stuck in unexpected soft ground after having drilled just 1% of its total length. It was later calculated that the TBM will continue drilling at a rate of 10 meters per day after it starts operating again, instead of the original 30-50 meters planned.

In terms of finances and delays, the project was originally budgeted at $2 billion in 2017 and has reached a budget of $5.9 billion by now. In addition to this, the project was originally planned to start energy production in 2025 and be completed in 2026, but last Wednesday’s announcement set the current date of earliest start at mid-2028 and all unit completion at the end of 2029.

This delay, however, creates concerns regarding Australian power production capacity, as several coal powered plants are scheduled to stop operating by the end of the decade.