Snowy 2.0’s fourth TBM passes FAT

In order to advancing Australia’s Snowy 2.0 hydro project, the fourth TBM has passed its Factory Acceptance Test.

Excavation of a 17km-long tunnel for the pumped storage hydro project in New South Wales will be up to this machine, that has been built by Herrenknecht at its factory in Guangzhou, China. The tunnel is eventually due to link the upper reservoir at Tantangara to the underground power station, around 1km beneath the surface.

The 178m-long TBM has a 12m diameter cutterhead, 6300kW of cutterhead drive power, and eight gantries. Nine concrete segments will line each tunnel ring.

With the aim of helping the project maintain its delivery timeline, Snowy Hydro confirmed a fourth TBM deployed in August last year.