Snowy Hydro lifts Snowy 2.0 cost target to A$22.2 billion

Snowy Hydro has raised its target cost to complete the Snowy 2.0 pumped-hydro project to A$22.2 billion, with a contingency scenario taking the potential total to A$25 billion. The company now targets full commissioning in late 2029, extending the schedule for the major energy-storage development in New South Wales. The reassessment, announced in October, puts the target nearly twice the A$12 billion estimate set during a 2023 project reset. The A$25 billion scenario includes a A$2.8 billion contingency and is about 12.5 times the roughly A$2 billion estimate cited when the project was proposed in 2017. The contingency figure is a scenario, not a settled final cost. Snowy Hydro said the higher estimate reflects design immaturity, construction challenges, productivity shortfalls, an undercount of remaining work and global cost increases that exceeded allowances made in the 2023 reset. The company’s chief executive, Dennis Barnes, said estimating the project had been difficult because of its scale and complexity. Machine tunnelling was 65% complete in the company’s update. A separate Australian National Audit Office assessment reported that overall project completion stood at...