Over the weekend Snowy Hydro and the principal contractor and factory operator Future Generation Joint Venture officially launched the new Snowy 2.0 precast factory in Cooma, where 130,000 concrete segments are being produced locally to line the tunnels for the major pumped-hydro project: click here for the  video. 

Snowy Hydro decided to build this factory locally rather than import segments from overseas or interstate because it meant local jobs, opportunities and investment. The factory operations include a concrete batching plant and two automated carousels, producing up to 24 rings, each one made of nine segments, per day.  

Raw materials are sourced from the local area to mix concrete within the batching plant, which is then transferred into the factory and poured into specially-designed moulds every 10 minutes.  In a recycling initiative, around 70,000 tonnes of slag – a by-product of the steel manufacturing process – is used to produce the segments. This reduces the amount of cement required by 40 per cent. The segments will supply the three Snowy 2.0 TBMs as they excavate and line more than 27 km of tunnels between Tantangara and Talbingo reservoirs.   

The Lady Eileen Hudson TBM is well underway excavating the main access tunnel (currently more than 600 m in), and the second machine, TBM Kirsten, is being assembled ready for commissioning and launch. 

Click here for more information, here and au/38 for the tunnelbuilder archive. Visit https://www.snowyhydro.com.au/. 42/21.