Including transmission and other costs.
3+ times the life of a coal fired power plant, and a fraction of the run cost.
It will put significant downward pressure on energy costs.
We need more of these.
Cheers,
Peter
The original budget for the project was $2 billion.
The latest estimate is $42 billion.
I think the govt should stop it, cut its losses and use it for studies in incompetence.
When the government comes calling the lads in the private enterprise boardrooms raise a glass or two, of the 18yr old Macallan, to the windfall that is on the way. It has forever been so.
__________________
"Some days you are the Dog and some days you are the tree."
Like the first big battery in South Australia. They filled it with energy that was almost free and sold it to compete with the highest prices. That has the effect of reducing the highest prices.
In the case of the SA battery, the Victorians paid for it for us very quickly.
I used to work for the Snowy and SMEC (the consultant offshoot from the original Snowy scheme). There are still a few people around town who used to work for the Snowy and SMEC. We meet regularly, and often speak about Snowy 2.0.
When Malcolm Turnbull announced Snowy 2.0, he said that it would cost $2 Billion, and be complete by 2024. This was back in 2018. We all laughed. We all knew where he had obtained the information from. We all knew the geology (the worst is yet to come) and the complications of building the scheme. Some of us had even worked years before on possible Hydro sites and this site was easily rejected. Interestingly, none of this group of ex Snowy/SMEC people (including me) were invited to work on the new scheme.
Snowy 2.0 CAN be built. It will cost a lot. A lot more than similar possible schemes elsewhere in Australia, but it CAN be built. It will deliver much needed power to the grid - not as much as they are claiming, but it will provide for significant base load and peak power to the grid, and in conjunction with the ever-increasing renewables, will make a significant stabilising influence on the Qld/NSW/ACT/Vic/Tas/SA grid. It will further enhance grid stability in times of crisis. It will not reduce the cost of elecrticity to the consumer.
BUT - Snowy 2.0 will be the modern equivalent of the original Snowy scheme, except for water diversion to the West, which was the main purpose of the original Snowy scheme. The Hydro-Electric part was the means to pay for the water diversion for subsequent irrigation in the west. It will provide a significant stabilising effect to the ever-changing Electrical demands of modern Australia. The Electrical and Mechanical equipment will be world-class standard. There will be problems with this, because it will be ground breaking, but I hope (am quietly confident) that the Snowy Hydro people will be able to handle the problems, in conjunction with the Electrical and Mechanical Contractor supplying and installing the equipment. This will be the best in the world, no doubt.
Am I upset about the cost? Yes. Am I upset about the delays? Yes, but we all expected some delays. BUT - at least someone is doing something about future electrical demands in Australia instead of blindly closing down the existing infrastructure and even more blindly hoping that the renewables will take up the difference. It is a bit like telling everyone to switch to electric cars to get rid of fossil fuels. Even that will happen, but not within my lifetime. Spare me - my soapbox has gotten so high that I cannot get down now...
So at this stage, its only an extra $40 billion.
Thats ok, the next budget will address the inter generational equity disparity. In other words, us oldies are both gonna get slugged and lose benefits.
Our nation debt is currently around $996 billion as in close to a trillion dollars. And growing.
The current govt inherited a budget surplus. They kissed that on the ass on the way out the door (country).
If there are any mathematicians/statisticians on here, have a crack at working out how much extra we will pay for fuel/fertiliser for the duration of the Middle East conflicts. What would it have cost to have been prepared for it in self sufficiency?
Where would you cut spending? Social welfare? Defense? Cheers, Peter
Cutting government jobs by reducing red tape would be a huge start. Cutting government jobs provides more availability of workforce for the private sector currently having difficulty finding employees and reduces the pressure on wages growth. Reduced red tape gives businesses incentive to expand and hire more.
Government jobs cost the country. Private sector jobs grow the country.
The last election was won because the government called their policies a caring economy I.e. buying votes with handouts.
That costs.
That has been incremented by a staggering level of migration (votes). That also costs.
The government knows its Achilles heel is its economic mismanagement reflected in the GDP which isnt too bad BUT is inflated by government spending. That only fires inflation.
The government needs sources of votes.
That will be the group of youngsters voting for the first time at the next election.
We, as in grey nomads, are a dying breed. We dont count but we are cashed up.
The government will steal our hard earned cash/equity and hand it over to the new voters and first home buyers.
After May 12, tell me if Im wrong.
In answer to your question Peter, I would cut all subsidies to green energy, halt migration, identify and eliminate waste, stop the multitude of handouts, invest in proper education (not lefty dominated BS) and harness Australias natural resources.
We will be left behind in the coming AI era as we dont have the compute nor the power to run it.
Combine the last sentence with our growing debt and we are screwed. There is a bleak future ahead for us Aussies.
I haven't been hearing much at all about this project. Think last thing I heard was the tunnel boring machine was bogged again. A typical government project I would say. From $2 billion to $42 billion. What a bargain.
Dorian
In such serious issues, you choose to isolate and comment on a bum without offering anything but an insight into your brain.
You are one strange dude.
Dorian In such serious issues, you choose to isolate and comment on a bum without offering anything but an insight into your brain. You are one strange dude.
Why would you choose to dig yourself deeper by defending your un-Australian expressions? Are you really an American pretending to be Australian? Did I wake you up, or are you a bad sleeper like me?
__________________
"No friend ever served me, and no enemy ever wronged me, whom I have not repaid in full."
No Dorian, the issues affecting Australia now and its future keep me awake at night.
The subtle issue of ass and arse are of no concern to me in these times.
Zeroing in on an ass seems quite queer to me.
It makes me wonder why someone would go to all that trouble to defend an Americanism if he was true-blue. An essential part of being a proud Australian is supporting the continuation of the "Australian" language rather than merely caving in to American cultural hegemony and allowing Australia to become another American satellite. Even immigrants are able to distinguish Australianisms from Americanisms. Maybe that should be part of our citizenship test.
__________________
"No friend ever served me, and no enemy ever wronged me, whom I have not repaid in full."
I went on a fishing expedition a few years ago to Talbingo.
Outside the local shopping centre at Talbingo village there was a community information set up for the project.
I picked up a couple of pamphlets and still have one of those cardboard cutout models of one of the tunnel boring machines.
Where is in a government budget is it necessary to hand out little cardboard model pushouts???
It was something like you could expect to see out of "Utopia".
Mind you, I loved that show, it was not in effect a comedy, but a documentary of typical government incompetence.
On that, who was the dingbat that devised the employee weekly superannuation payments system disaster that has been designed to take effect on July 1 this year.
I know of two small business that are sacking their employees in difficult times at present as this stupid super change is the last straw for their already struggling businesses.
Too much red tape accompanied by vicious penalties for being 7 days late when it takes about 5 days to get into the super fund.
Honestly, we are being governed by complete imbeciles.
One suspects that union boss woman that suggested turning all the taps on at homes when the floods were tipping over the top of Warragamba Dam.
A real rocket scientist that one, wash all the expensive treated water down the drains to flood the water and sewerage plant. Nice one.
A real brainiac.
"There is a bleak future ahead for us Aussies."
Forget the future, we have been going down the drain for years and have already hit rock bottom.
As I often say to many mates - "I am glad I am the age that I am.....we have seen the best of it".
I would rather try and forget about the gross incompetence we witness from day to day and just go play golf, and sit at the end of a fishing rod till sunset with a coldie nearby.
The current Government did not inherit a surplus. That is just a lie. When they were elected in 2022 they inherited a debt of just under 900 billion from the LNP.
Why the govt of the time gave many businesses $20,000 handouts during covid was beyond me.
The criteria was to have spent a minimum of $1 on wages in the prior period.
Many of those in remote regional areas were not even affected much by covid.
Some of the decisions made at that time were absurd.
Not unlike the Snowy Hydro 2.0 in hindsight !!!!!!
When the Australian Labor Party took office in May 2022, they inherited a gross debt of approximately $888 billion.Key Details on the Inherited Debt:Net Debt: Net debt was lower than gross, standing at approximately $517 billion at the time of the election."Trillion Dollar" Claim: While Treasurer Jim Chalmers frequently referred to a "trillion dollars of Liberal debt," fact-checkers found this to be an exaggeration. The $1 trillion figure was a forecast projection for a later date (expected to be reached in the 2023-24 financial year) rather than the exact amount at the time of the handover.Composition of Debt: While the majority of the debt was accrued during the Coalition's term (particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic), studies show that about 2531% of the total debt was attributed to previous Labor governments.Context: The high debt levels were largely due to massive pandemic-era stimulus spending to keep the economy afloat, with gross debt increasing from $534.4 billion in March 2019 to $885.5 billion in April 2022.
