Custom barriers for Snowy Hydro

The Project

The Snowy Hydro 2.0 Project involves linking two existing dams, Tantangara and Talbingo, through 27km of tunnels and building a new underground power station.

Water will be pumped to the upper dam when there is surplus renewable energy production and the demand for energy is low, and then released back to the lower dam to generate energy when electricity demand is high.

This will provide flexible, on-demand power while reusing the water in a closed loop system.

Future Generation is the joint venture created specifically to build Snowy 2.0 on behalf of Snowy Hydro Limited. This JV comprises Italy’s Salini Impregilo, Australian-based Clough and US-based Lane Construction.

The first power generated from Snowy 2.0 is expected in early 2025.

The Challenge

As part of the underground dam link, three massive tunnel boring machines similar to those used for Sydney Metro and other large infrastructure projects will be used to create the 27 kilometres of tunnels. Like many tunnel boring machines, these excavate the tunnel which then needs to be lined with concrete segments to prevent collapse.

The Snowy 2.0 segment factory at Polo Flat near Cooma has been established at a cost of $55 million. This factory will manufacture over 130,000 concrete segments, each weighing over 6t, which need to be transported to the tunnel site on specially designed trucks.

The trucks will enter a large undercover loading zone where they can each carry nine segments at once. These will then be transported to the work sites at Lobs Hole and Tantangara.

For safety and efficient movement of trucks in and out of the factory, the Future Generation team required specially shaped concrete jersey barriers.

The Solution

The Fortress Fencing team led by Ben Lorne was able to assist by commissioning 160 metres of single sided F Type jersey barriers. These 3 metre long barriers were specially manufactured in our Sydney precast concrete facility and shipped to the Cooma segment factory for installation in their high covered bay.

Owning our own production facilities and partnering with other manufacturers means we can cater fully to our customer’s needs, saving time and money in getting products to site. (We’ve recently helped a customer in Cairns save over $250,000 in freight just by thinking outside the box!)

So, if you’ve got a big project on the horizon, or you’re working at a remote site and logistics are an issue, give Fortress a call to see how we can get the best result and save you money.