Following a brief pause in July to install the remaining gantries and connect the conveyor belt, Lady Eileen - the first TBM to start tunnelling - is now more than 160 m into the mountain. By the 200-m mark, the TBM will have the permanent ventilation and conveyor systems installed and be fully operational. The machine will continue full steam ahead excavating the 2.7-km main access tunnel to the power station complex.
Significant progress at the ECVT (Emergency, Cable and Ventilation Tunnel) portal has seen the excavation of 330,000 cubic metres of material to create a 25-m high vertical portal face. The cradle that supports TBM Kirsten is complete. The 11-m cutterhead for the second Snowy 2.0 TBM at Lobs Hole is now in place and the assembly of TBM Kirsten , named after Aussie astrophysicist Kirsten Banks, continues with installation of the tailskin and other components . The TBM will soon start excavating the 2.9km emergency, cable and ventilation tunnel, which will be the alternate access to the underground power station. The TBM will tunnel uphill at a 25-degree grade to create the inclined pressure shaft and meet up with the headrace tunnel. A tunnel at such a steep incline is a world first.
At Tantangara, where the headrace tunnel will be built from, excavation and preparation of the adit portal is well advanced. Large components of third Snowy 2.0’s TBM, named Florence , after Australia’s first electrical engineer Florence McKenzie, are rolling into Tantangara, with the largest escorted loads occurring in the early hours of the morning, to reduce disruptions to Snowy Mountains Highway motorists. The assembly of the TBM will commence following the delivery of the oversize and over mass components, and installation of the concrete batch plant and water treatment plants.
Snowy 2.0 is Australia’s largest committed renewable energy project, underpinning thousands of MW of intermittent renewables through its 2,000MW of capacity to pump, store and generate electricity. With its 27 km of tunnels linking two dams and an underground power station, Snowy 2.0 is utilising world-leading hydro construction techniques and the latest developments in design technology. Snowy Hydro is working with Future Generation Joint Venture to deliver Snowy 2.0.
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