By rosebell
TBM Florence is making good progress on its Snowy 2.0 pumped storage hydro project, as Snowy Hydro says.
According to underground geotechnical engineer Kane Allen: “Over the past two months TBM Florence, which is building the headrace tunnel, has made an average advance of 40mm per minute.The last couple of months she really has been hitting goals.”
Being working through a pretty friendly formation, the TBM is currently mining in open mode.The Tangtangara Formation is sediment, comprising mainly sandstone and siltstone, deposited in a marine environment 440 million years.
While construction of the headrace tunnel is up to TBM Florence, work at the Tangtangara site continues on several fronts, including the intake structure and the gate shaft. This has required development of a unique concrete mix that can been poured in freezing conditions.
In order to building the intake structure, on average, 1,000m3 of concrete a week is being poured.
The date of commissioning TBM Florence from the Tangtangara site was March 2022, whereas she was halted for several months after a surface depression developed in 2023. Work was stalled again in May 2024 when the machine hit hard and abrasive rock.
