This month Snowy Hydro achieved another exciting milestone, with the commissioning of Kirsten, the second of three TBMs that will excavate more than 27km of tunnels for Snowy 2.0 pumped-storage scheme, the largest renewable energy project in Australia. Future Generation joint-venture with Australia’s Prime Minister and Snowy Hydro Ltd attended the ceremony at Lobs Hole.  

Built specifically for Snowy 2.0 by Germany’s Herrenknecht AG the TBM, named after Australian astrophysicist Kirsten Banks, is set to drive the 2.9km emergency, cable and ventilation tunnel (ECVT), which provides alternate access to the underground power station, the 1.4km inclined pressure shaft (IPS) and a 2.4km section of the headrace tunnel.  

TBM Kirsten - length 205-m-long  and  diameter 11m -  is a single-shield, open-mode machine, designed  to deal with hard rock conditions, to advance up to 30 m per day and to excavate the IPS at steep angles: up to 9% (five degrees) on declines and up to 47% (25 degrees) on inclines.  

The first TBM, the Lady Eileen Hudson, has already driven 1 km of the main access tunnel.  

Snowy 2.0, which is on-budget and due to produce its first power in 2025, is fundamental to Australia’s transition to a renewable energy future. Its 2,000 megawatts of pumping and generating capacity and 175 hours of storage – enough to power 500,000 homes simultaneously – will underpin thousands of megawatts of intermittent renewables.  Snowy 2.0 will link the existing Talbingo Reservoir with Tantangara Reservoir through a network of tunnels. For further information please click here for a video, here and au/38 for the tunnelbuilder archive. Visit https://www.snowyhydro.com.au/. 49/21.