The Australian says Malcolm Turnbulls Snowy 2.0 pumped hydro project looks promising and predicts that Mr Turnbull can expect a serious political pay-off in the event that the project is executed with competence and dispatch.
Mr Turnbulls project involves new power turbines and tunnels in the Snowy but no new dams. A pumped hydro scheme has two water reservoirs at different heights connected by a pipe. When power prices rise or there is low supply from other sources like solar and wind, water is released from the upper reservoir and runs through a turbine into the lower one, generating electricity as it goes. When power is cheaper, the water is pumped back up from the bottom to the top. This has the added advantage of using excess power generation.
It's expected the new project will increase its output by up to 50 per cent and a contribution bigger than that to be lost with Hazelwood. The extra capacity, to be pumped into the national electricity market, will be able to supply power not just NSW and Victoria but South Australia as well.
The Australian points out that the success of the scheme will hinge on the careful approach taken by the Snowy partners. The Scheme jointly owned by the NSW (58 per cent), Victorian (29 per cent) and commonwealth (13 per cent) governments.
