Snowy 2.0 project gets new boss as Florence still stuck in the mud

The federal government owned energy utility Snowy Hydro has appointed a new head of its controversial Snowy 2.0 project as it admits one of its main tunnelling machines remains stuck underground, and as continues to assess the scale of the project’s cost blowouts.

The company announced on Friday that Snowy 2.0 project director Kieran Cusack – who had been working on the project since it was first publicly announced in 2017 – had resigned to take up a role as CEO of Queensland Hydro.

Cusack will be replaced by Dave Evans, the project’s current engineering director.

“Kieran was there when the first sod was turned for Snowy 2.0 in 2019, following a rigorous planning and approvals process, and he was integral to the establishment of multiple worksites, growth of the Snowy 2.0 workforce to 2,700 people, as well as the excavation of the first new two tunnels in our iconic Scheme since its construction,” newly appointed managing director Dennis Barnes said in a statement.

“Kieran has guided Snowy 2.0 through many challenges and his significant contribution to the project is greatly appreciated.”

Snowy Hydro recently admitted that its flagship project could be delayed by another two years because of tunnelling problems, and faces potential significant cost over-runs which some in the market say could run to more than $2 billion over the already revised budget of $5.9 billion.

One of the main problems has been the Florence tunnelling machine, which has been bogged in soft soil and could be stuck for several more months.

Barnes confirmed at a Senate Estimates hearing on Monday night that a full assessment of the delays and the cost overruns would not be complete until late July.

“We haven’t got an updated cost yet,” Barnes told the hearing. “We will have that in a few months.”

Barnes said Snowy Hydro had spent $100 million on geo-tech surveys, but could not explain how that had failed to identify the soft ground conditions that had trapped Florence.

Cusack, as head of Queensland Hydro, will have carriage over another two massive pumped hydro projects – Borumba and Pioneer Burdekin – that form the core of that state’s storage plans as it transitions from being the county’s most coal dependent state to its target of 80 per cent renewables in 2035.

Meanwhile, the Kidston pumped hydro project, being built by Genex at the site of a former open pit gold mine in north Queensland, is reporting good progress in its construction works.

Kidston is a fraction of the size of Snowy Hydro, at 250MW and eight hours storage (2000MWh) but will be the first completed pumped hydro project in the country for around four decades, but so far tunnelling and excavation have not encountered major problems.