Snowy 2.0 defends timeline as it launches new $75 million machine amid cost blowout review


Feb 2 2026
ABC News

The Snowy 2.0 project has faced cost blowouts and delays since it was first announced in 2017.   :(

In short:
Snowy Hydro chief executive Dennis Barnes says the Snowy 2.0 project is on track to deliver power by the end of 2028, following several delays.

The company has acquired another tunnel-boring machine to make up for lost time, but it needs more money beyond its $12 billion budget.

What's next?
An independent cost reassessment process is expected to be finished in the first half of 2026.

Snowy Hydro says the Snowy 2.0 renewable energy project is on track to deliver power by the end of 2028, but is remaining tight-lipped about how much additional money it needs.   :(

The project announced further cost blowouts beyond its $12 billion budget last year, and is undergoing a review before the company is set to ask the federal government for more money.   :(

Snowy 2.0's costs have already blown out by $10 billion, and the start date has been repeatedly pushed back.

Recently, it acquired a fourth tunnel-boring machine (TBM) to make up for lost excavation time.

An underground construction site.
Workers operate underground around the clock on the Snowy 2.0 site.

Snowy Hydro chief executive Dennis Barnes said the largest challenges were now behind the project, which is now 70 per cent complete.

"You know an awful lot more when you're 70 per cent of the way through, than 40 per cent or 10 per cent," he said.

Cost blowout
Snowy 2.0 is Australia's largest renewable energy project and involves building a hydropower station 800 metres underground at Kosciuszko National Park, with 27 kilometres of underground tunnels linking Tantangara Dam to the Talbingo Reservoir.

Acting as a giant battery, the system will store excess power from wind and solar, and deliver it across the grid when needed.

A construction site nearby mountains.
The Snowy 2.0 project is located in the NSW Snowy Mountains. 

The project is expected to provide up to 2,200 megawatts of electricity to the national grid and is anticipated to be completed by December 2028.

With an initial cost of $2 billion, it was expected to deliver its first power in 2021 when announced by the Malcolm Turnbull government back in 2017.

The cost was revised to $6 billion after a feasibility study, and later to $12 billion.

A further cost blowout came last October, when Snowy Hydro announced it would need even more money to deliver the project.

An opening of a concrete tunnel on a construction site.
The project is made up of around 40 kilometres of tunnels. 

Mr Barnes said it was not favourable that the company would not be able to meet its $12 billion target and admitted previous cost assessments were not perfect. 

"Two-and-a-half years ago, we did an awful lot of work to reassess the project," Mr Barnes said.

"We got some things right, we got some things wrong.

"The disappointment is we didn't foresee all of that in mid-2023."

A man in a yellow construction outfit, speaking at a lecturn.
Dennis Barnes previously attributed the cost blowout to productivity targets not being met and increasing supply chain costs.

Tight-lipped on money needs
A line-by-line cost reassessment process is expected to be complete in the first half of 2026, but Mr Barnes has not provided any indication of how much extra money the company needs.

Four months into that independent review process, Mr Barnes still declined to give details on the expected sum when questioned by the ABC.

Mr Barnes said they were currently working through the details, but the process would take time due to the site's complexities.

A construction worker walking along concrete underground.
There are currently around 5,500 people working on the project.

"We need to get it right, then we'll announce [the cost increase] at the time when we're confident,"  he said.
"So everybody gets the full explanation at the same time."

In October, federal Energy and Climate Change Minister Chris Bowen said the government would scrutinise the review's findings.

"This costs reassessment is disappointing, and the government will be scrutinising its findings — this project must be delivered, but it must come at value for the taxpayer," Mr Bowen said in a statement on October 3, 2025.

A man in a yellow construction outfit, speaking at a lecturn.
Chris Bowen at the official launch for tunnel-boring machine Monica.

A series of safety issues have previously plagued the project, including toxic gases filling the tunnels, the implosion of an industrial fan on-site and concerns over the status of refuge chambers, which are a "last resort" for workers trapped underground.

New $75m machine
The project's defence of its ability to meet its amended deadline has come alongside the acquisition of its fourth TBM, Monica, which was officially unveiled last Friday.

The company announced in August 2024 that it would need to buy the new machine after repeated problems with its existing machine, Florence.

Florence spent most of 2023 bogged in soft ground, triggering a sinkhole in Kosciuszko National Park, and it became jammed in hard rock in 2024.

Monica is a "much more advanced TBM", specifically designed to overcome the complex geological area of the project, after the concerns that Florence would be unfit for the job.


Monica  is named after Tumut high school student Monica Brimmer, who won an art and storytelling competition.

The new 178-metre-long Monica came with a price tag of about $75 million, which Mr Barnes said was crucial to avoid further scheduling delays.

"If you get a tunnel boring machine stuck, then you can have months and months and months of drilling tunnels out to divert it," he said.

"In the event that Florence got stuck, we would be looking at a serious delay to the project.

"Monica avoids that, so [it's] worth its weight in gold."

A construction site underground, blocked by security tape.
Monica is expected to commence tunnel-boring operations on February 19.

Construction manager Tim Dean manages the Marica site, where Monica will be operating from, and said his crews had been working to prepare for the machine.

"It's been a long, hard journey for us,"  Mr Dean said.
"We started the project here for TBM4 this time last year.

"Launching it … just 12 months later, has been a really big feat for all the people involved in the workforce."

A group of construction workers looking at an event.
Around 250 people attended the opening of TBM Monica on January 30. 

End in sight
Energy Minister Chris Bowen addressed a crowd of Snowy 2.0 workers, officials and community leaders at Monica's official opening on Friday, January 30.

In his speech, Mr Bowen's previously expressed disappointment over the project's cost blowouts was replaced with a message of pride about the project's workforce.

"We can draw up all the plans, and we can have all the funding, and we can have all the dreams, but it's the workers who make it a reality," Mr Bowen said in his address to the crowd.

What.  Is there going to be yet again another cost blowout?.  This is not good enough.  Where's the money coming from?.   :(

whiteknight wrote on Feb 2^nd, 2026 at 9:54am:

What.  Is there going to be yet again another cost blowout?.  This is not good enough.  Where's the money coming from?.   :(

From interest on the $x billions set aside for the Steam Submarine project.

Quote:

Is there going to be yet again another cost blowout?

Consistency in actions is signs of stability.

From 2bil to 12+bil and these are the people that tell us why renewables are cheaper.

Will it work if there's a drought?

whiteknight wrote on Feb 2^nd, 2026 at 9:51am:

Florence spent most of 2023 bogged in soft ground, triggering a sinkhole in Kosciuszko National Park, and it became jammed in hard rock in 2024.

'TBM Florence is specifically designed and purpose-built for the Snowy 2.0 pumped hydro project. It is engineered to navigate challenging, highly variable ground conditions, including hard rock and soft, wet, sandy loam, at depths of up to 450 metres.'

The Robodebt machine has passed all inspections and works as planned. No-one is to blame.

whiteknight wrote on Feb 2^nd, 2026 at 9:43am:

Acting as a giant battery, the system will store excess power from wind and solar, and deliver it across the grid when needed.

Ah, so some of the power form the Scheme is NOT going to pump the water back upstream.

It is going to provide "about 350,000 megawatt-hours of large-scale storage to the national electricity market".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snowy_2.0_Pumped_Storage_Power_Station

The east coast daily consumption is 3456316.59 MWh of which 10% is from the Snowy 2.0 system. A seven day or longer dunkelflaute, no wind, little sunlight, would mean that the storage is empty unless turned off.

https://www.energy.gov.au/energy-data/australian-energy-statistics/states-and-territories

whiteknight wrote on Feb 2^nd, 2026 at 9:54am:

What.  Is there going to be yet again another cost blowout?.  This is not good enough.  Where's the money coming from?.   :(

From the same money tree the Greens use to fund their idiotic policies

Turnbull's curse.