In a monthly project update on the Snowy 2.0 project, Hamish Pryor, Construction Director, has confirmed that the manufacturing of six pumped hydro units for the 2200MW power station, a crucial component of the Australian project, is currently in full swing at Voith Hydro's global facility in Shanghai, China.
The Shanghai factory ensures rigorous quality checks for each project item before dispatch to Australia, Pryor said. Voith's German quality, research, and development team collaborates with Shanghai engineers on design, manufacturing processes, and quality control, closely working with the Snowy 2.0 team in Australia.
Components such as the 13m-wide spiral cases, 140-tonne, 2.2m-diameter main inlet valves, and 31-tonne runners are among the sizable elements in production. The runner undergoes meticulous fabrication requiring exceptional machining and specialized welding skills.
Voith's electrical workshop is actively producing over 2700 stator bars. Snowy Hydro's team in Shanghai ensures quality assurance and progress monitoring, while specialized engineers participate in factory acceptance testing. A recent milestone was the completion of the final acceptance test for the first unit runner.
In the Snowy Mountains, the Snowy 2.0 delivery team is concurrently working on water intakes at Talbingo and Tantangara reservoirs. A substantial 28m diameter, 250m-deep surge shaft at Marica is in construction and is poised to become one of the world's largest operating shafts.
The tunnel excavation for Snowy 2.0 is progressing with locally-made concrete segments, with nearly 90,000 manufactured at the Cooma precast factory. Simultaneously, the underground power station cavern complex is underway, employing drill and blast excavation techniques.
The latest video update on the project can be viewed at https://youtu.be/RNGSMoaZoXw
