Clough, as part of the Future Generation Joint Venture delivering the Snowy 2.0 project on behalf of Snowy Hydro Ltd, is proud to announce that the project has reached a new milestone this week with the commissioning of the third tunnel boring machine (TBM).
The TBM is known as Florence named after Florence Violet McKenzie, Australia’s first female electrical engineer and will start work on an adit to the planned headrace tunnel at Tantangara, one of the two reservoirs that will be part of the project’s pumped-storage scheme in the Snowy Mountains in southern New South Wales.
TBM Florence is 143 metres long and is a dual-mode Herrenknecht TBM with a cutterhead that is 11 metres in diameter. It is expected to take several years to complete its 15.4-kilometre journey.
TBM Lady Eileen Hudson, is halfway through excavating the main access tunnel with its hard-rock, single-shield cutterhead. It is halfway to reaching the spot where a huge cavern will be dug for the power station. Located nearly one kilometre below ground, the station will have six reversible Francis pump-turbines capable of generating 2000 megawatts of power. After reaching this spot, the CREG TBM will be dismantled and reassembled at a portal near the upper Talbingo Reservoir where it will excavate the tailrace tunnel.
TBM Kristen is well underway excavating the Emergency, Cable and Ventilation Tunnel. TBM Kirsten is the most innovative of the three TBMs because it will be able to excavate at a 25-degree step incline uphill, a world first. After working on an incline to reach the spot of the future cavern, the hard-rock single-shield TBM will then go on an incline to bore the Inclined Pressure Shaft. Its final stretch will be along the headrace tunnel to meet up with TBM Florence.
Clough, as part of the Future Generation joint venture with WeBuild and Lane, is responsible for delivering the civil and electro-mechanical work for the Snowy 2.0 Project that will link two existing Snowy Scheme dams, Tantangara and Talbingo, through underground tunnels to the depths of up to one kilometre and an underground power station with pumping capabilities.
Snowy 2.0 will add 2,000 megawatts of energy generation and provide 175 hours of energy storage for the National Electricity Market, enough to ensure the stability and reliability of the system during prolonged weather events, such as wind or solar droughts.
Snowy Hydro already plays a critical role in ensuring system stability at times of peak demand, and Snowy 2.0 will enhance this existing capability and ensure that it continues to provide a secure and reliable transition to renewables.
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About Clough
Clough is a pioneering engineering and construction company established in 1919 in Perth, Western Australia. Clough delivers sustainable high performing assets for the infrastructure, resources and energy industries underpinned by a dedication to problem solving and getting the job done safely and efficiently.
Today, Clough manages a global workforce of over 2500 people from operating centres across Australia, Asia Pacific, UK, and North America that strive for the best in everything, setting new safety and performance benchmarks every single day.
Clough is a wholly owned subsidiary of Murray & Roberts, a multinational group that focuses its expertise on delivering sustainable and fit-for-purpose project engineering, procurement, construction, commissioning, operations and maintenance solutions. The Group delivers its capabilities into the resources, industrial, energy, water and specialised infrastructure sectors.