Dave Evans

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Australia , the plans for the construction of the Snowy 2. 0 project under the Kosciuszko National Park

produce Far below a National Park , in one of the coldest parts of Australia , where the government wants to build a hugely ambitious project: a power plant in the location of 10% of The Nation 's energy.

It is part of a bold - and expensive-hydro-electricity scheme in the Kosciuszko National Park in south-east New South Wales .

The Snowy 2. 0 The Project has ambitions to carve out a Tunnel 27km (17 miles) of rock to a huge pipeline, and two reservoirs. The difference in altitude of 700m (2296ft) is what could The Plan of his extraordinary.

It is simple enough in concept, but complex in design and demanding in practice.

Scheme in their own League,'

If it's cheap, excess electricity into the power grid and the demand is low, typically at night, water from the lower reservoir, Talbingo, pumped up to their high cousin Tantangara, sits on a high, open plateau.

If the demand for energy rises, the water drained, and is sent to the collapse of the main water tunnel for the road.

the generation of electricity in a Power Station buried 800 meters below The Surface through the turbines, the pumps circulate the water from the lower reservoir to Tantangara.

Talbingo reservoir

Conventional hydropower plants are images of spray and mist, if water is detected free. The Kosciuszko plan, however, would be used, the energy generated under water, and the water, while the whole operation would be almost entirely hidden under the National Park .

"What is Snowy 2. 0 is in a League of its own," Prof Michael Coruña, Director of the Melbourne Energy Institute at the University of Melbourne, reports the BBC.

"It's essentially an extremely large and extremely powerful battery. At full power it would in about 10% of Australia 's electricity production. "

has begun Exploratory work on a sub, the echoes of the original Snowy Mountains hydro-and irrigation has control in the Australian Great Dividing Range mountains, which was the largest technical project ever seen in Australia .

The reservoirs, the power of the Snowy 2. 0 were built as part of the fabled nation-building enterprise that began in October, 1949 and lasted for More Than 25 years. The technological wonders, were one of seven power stations, 16 major dams, 145 km of interconnected tunnels and 80km of aqueducts.

The First Snowy scheme began in 1949 and took decades to complete

The First snow-capped scheme was as much about people as it was. Over 100,000 men and women from More Than 30 countries have worked for years. A third of the workforce was Australian, and she built together with migrants, muscle, a symbol of national ingenuity and diversity.

"The Spirit of the original Snowy is absolutely fluent and You Will get it as soon as You up to The Town of Cooma, because The Heritage is everywhere," says Dave Evans , director of engineering at Snowy 2. 0.

Australia 's unique green energy-mix

This time Australia also sought help from abroad, the advice given by experts from Iceland, Switzerland, Italy and beyond.

"in General, You have to go to Asia or Africa to work on something like that, and they are usually a bit smaller. So You have in your backyard is exciting," said Mr Evans says.

determine First Will work, whether Snowy 2. 0 is both feasible and financially feasible. The government hopes that it Will drift down the prices of electricity and give the power sector greater reliability.

"There is no question, this is a great technical challenge. Ultimately, You don't know exactly how The Rocks look like between the two reservoirs," says Dr. Matthew share, a research fellow at the Australian National University .

Australia is one of the sunniest continents, and the wind energy is currently the cheapest source for large-scale renewable energy. Add to the mixture of hydro-technology, and Australia has the potential to be a clean energy super-power as more of its coal stations shut down.

Australia , the harvest is already both wind and solar energy

"Australia is employed on an amazing trajectory in terms of the installations of wind and PV (photovoltaics-solar cells in roof-plates). We are currently installing on a per-head basis, wind and solar energy, faster than Anywhere Else in The World ," says Dr. stock.

"In the middle of the 2020s, we Will have to begin to significantly alter how our electricity system works, the handling of the variability of wind and PV. You need to spread the resources too heavily, so You can try out different weather at different times. You need a certain amount of storage and pumped storage is by far the cheapest way to save energy. "

For the exploratory excavations alone, 600,000 cubic meters of cut out rock from The Land .

Snowy Hydro disputed claims by environmentalists that up to 100 square kilometres of the National Park , including the native Alpine Bush land and streams that would be damaged by the disposal of excavated rocks.

A very risky project?

But not everyone is convinced that such a monumental project is worth the effort.

"It is likely to be around$6-7 billion ($4. 2-4. 9bn; £3. 3-3. 9bn) project, and You can a lot of other storage-and-renewable-support systems for this kind of money," - says Andrew floor, an energy expert at the Australian independent Climate Council .

"By world-standards, it is a mega-project and The Track record for the mega-hydro-projects, deliver them on schedule and in budget, very bad is Global, so it is a very risky project. "

the costs have blown out because of the former Prime Minister , Malcolm Turnbull announced that, in 2017, that it would be built for an estimated A$2 billion, and This Week he has vigorously, The Project is defended as "The Key to renewable energy is reliable".

It is unclear whether the cost of energy - a constant irritant for a lot of Australians would fall, if the giant storage unit. Other question is the political motive: it was a way for a centre-right government is a staunch supporter of the fossil fuel industry to promote the environmental impact?

the Director of The Victorian Energy Policy Centre, Bruce hill, thinks so.

"Snowy Hydro-2. 0 was a political get-out-of-jail card played, the cost of the population," he told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. "This is a project that we can confidently forecast can be fulfilled be a burden for The Public authorities and their service in the transition to a clean energy supply in the future, far cheaper from other Sources . "

The Boss of Snowy Hydro, Paul Broad, but is convinced that The Project is important as Australia moves away from dependence on coal, which generates most of its electricity.

"There is a tremendous amount of innovations coming to the Market - You can't have it without some sort of memory," Mr broad explained the Sender-7. 30-program.

The engineers working on The Project seem to be unfazed by the controversy, and expect to Snowy 2. 0 pump power until the end of 2024, or at the beginning of The Following year.

"It's not Far Away ," said Mr Evans, the scheme's engineering chief. "It comes quickly. "

australia climate, australia, renewable energy, hydroelectricity, new south wales, engineering, energy industry

Source of news: bbc.com