Webuild Group and Clough Unveil Australia’s Grand Renewable Energy Venture: Inside the Snowy Mountains Project

Webuild Group and Clough Unveil Australia’s Grand Renewable Energy Venture: Inside the Snowy Mountains Project

(IN BRIEF) Explore the depths of Australia’s ambitious renewable energy endeavor unfolding in the Snowy Mountains, where the Webuild Group and Clough, in collaboration with Snowy Hydro Limited, are spearheading the Future Generation project. This pumped-storage scheme, distinct from conventional renewables, aims to bolster the nation’s energy transition. With a focus on sustainability and reliability, the project entails intricate engineering feats including tunnel excavation spanning 27 kilometers through the mountains. Set to increase hydropower capacity significantly, the venture involves drawing water from the Tantangara Basin to the Talbingo basin via a colossal underground powerhouse. Witness the marvels of modern engineering in action as tunnel-boring machines, some as long as two football pitches, forge pathways for clean, sustainable energy production, marking a significant milestone in Australia’s renewable energy landscape.

(PRESS RELEASE) MILAN, 10-Apr-2024 — /EuropaWire/ — Embark on a journey of discovery at the biggest renewable energy project under construction in Australia. Snowy 2.0 is a giant battery being built by the Webuild Group and its Australian subsidiary Clough in a joint-venture called Future Generation on behalf of Snowy Hydro Limited that will support the country’s energy transition. How is a project this complex get built? How does a network of 27 kilometres of tunnels under a mountain get excavated in order to be able to produce clean, sustainable and always available electricity? To explain it all is a video produced by Webuild and Geopop, an production house dedicated to popularising science in Italy.

The plant, under construction in the Snowy Mountains in the state of New South Wales, is a pumped-storage scheme. It is able to store and produce electricity, making it available to Australian cities when needed. It is different from wind and solar as a renewable energy source because it is not as dependent on weather conditions.

The complex engineering project involves expanding a hydropower system and increase its production capacity from 4.1 to 6.3 MW. The water from the Tantangara Basin at 1,230 metres above sea level will be drawn down a tunnel with 10 metres in diameter excavated in the rock. The water will go down and empty at 600 metres in the Talbingo basin, located at 540 metres above sea level. At the heart of the project is the powerhouse some 800 metres underground. It is the largest of its kind to be excavated at such a depth where clean and renewable energy is produced with the passage of water. There are three tunnel-boring machines (TBMs) involved in the construction of the tunnel network. One TMB is 211 metres long, like two football pitches. This TBM is capable of excavating 9 to 47 percent inclines.

Webuild is a global leader in the design and construction of large, complex projects in the sectors of sustainable mobility, hydropower, water management and production, and green buildings. For many years, the recognized leader in the water sector, also ranking among the Top 10 international players in Australia, Europe and the US, the Group has consolidated experience in 50 countries. In almost 120 years of applied engineering on more than 3,200 projects, the Webuild Group has built 14,140 kilometres of rail and metro lines, 82,533 kilometres of roads and highways, 1,020 kilometres of bridges and viaducts, 3,408 kilometres of tunnels, and 313 dams and hydropower plants. Projects include the Bridge over the Danube River in Braila in Romania, and the Genoa Long Beach International Gateway in California; the expansion of the Panama Canal and the Third Bosphorus Bridge in Turkey; the Kingdom Centre skyscraper in Riyadh in Saudi Arabia, and metro lines in Copenhagen, Paris, Rome, Milan, Doha and Ryadh. Projects under construction include the New Genoa Breakwater, the Brenner Base Tunnel, Line 4 of Milan’s metro, and Line C of Rome’s metro, the Genoa-Milan high-capacity railway line, the Snowy 2.0 hydroelectric project in Australia, and the Trojena project for NEOM in Saudi Arabia. As of December 31, 2023, the Webuild Group with 87,000 people, achieved €10 billion in total revenues, and a total backlog of €64 billion, with over 90%
of its construction backlog related to projects linked to the advancement of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Webuild, subject to the direction and coordination of Salini Costruttori S.p.A., is headquartered in Italy and is listed on the Milan stock exchange (WBD; WBD.MI; WBD:IM). Since 2021, it is member of the MIB ESG, the index of Italian companies with the best ESG practices.

Media Contacts:

Media Relations
Francesca Romana Chiarano
Tel. +39 338 247 482
email: f.chiarano@webuildgroup.com

Australia Communications
Gilles Castonguay
Tel. +61 461 455 432
email: gr.castonguay@webuild-group.com.au

SOURCE: Webuild S.p.A.