The detailed cost review of Snowy Hydro’s delayed and controversial Snowy 2.0 pumped hydro project has run over time, despite being given nine months to complete the detailed cost analysis.
The line-by-line review was announced last October by the federal government owned Snowy Hydro as it flagged yet more cost overruns and potential delays. But it is yet to be produced, and its ministerial owner says he has yet to see the document.
“No, I haven’t received it,” federal energy and climate minister Chris Bowen said on the weekend, when asked about the project by a journalist.
Snowy 2.0 was originally pitched as a $2 billion project when first promoted by then prime minister Malcom Turnbull, and was then costed at $5.1 billion when the first contracts were announced, before blowing out to double that amount to $12 billion following a review by new management in 2023.
It is now expected to cost at least $20 billion, the result of multiple geological problems, technical challenges and the rising costs of civil construction. Some analysts put the total cost at around $40 billion if interest and transmission costs are added.
