Snowy Hydro Limited is an electricity generation and retailing company in Australia that owns, manages, and maintains the

Snowy Mountains Hydro-electric Scheme The Snowy Mountains Scheme or Snowy scheme is a hydroelectricity and irrigation complex in south-east Australia. The Scheme consists of sixteen major dams; nine power stations; two pumping stations; and of tunnels, pipelines and aqueducts that ...

which consists of nine hydro-electric power stations and sixteen large dams connected by 145 kilometres (90 mi) of tunnels and 80 kilometres (50 mi) of aqueducts located mainly in the

Kosciuszko National Park The Kosciuszko National Park () is a national park and contains mainland Australia's highest peak, Mount Kosciuszko, for which it is named, and Cabramurra, the highest town in Australia. Its borders contain a mix of rugged mountains and wilde ...

. Snowy Hydro also owns and operates two gas-fired power stations in

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

and one in

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

, three diesel power stations in

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest o ...

and owns two electricity retailing businesses, Red Energy and

Lumo Energy Lumo Energy is an Australian energy retailer operating in Victoria and South Australia, which has been wholly owned by Snowy Hydro since 2014. The business offers electricity and gas packages in Victoria and South Australia. As of October 201 ...

. The company is owned by the

Government of Australia The Australian Government, also known as the Commonwealth Government, is the national government of Australia, a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Like other Westminster-style systems of government, the Australian Governmen ...

and whilst not a statutory corporation, is established by the ''Snowy Mountains Hydro-electric Power Act 1949 (Cth)''. Prior to its incorporation under the ''Corporations Act 2001 (Cth)'', the company was previously known as Snowy Mountains Hydro-electric Authority.

Generating assets

The company manages the

Snowy Mountains Scheme The Snowy Mountains Scheme or Snowy scheme is a hydroelectricity and irrigation complex in south-east Australia. The Scheme consists of sixteen major dams; nine power stations; two pumping stations; and of tunnels, pipelines and aqueducts that ...

which generates on average around 4,500 gigawatt hours of clean, renewable energy each year, which was around 37% of all renewable energy in the mainland

National Electricity Market The National Electricity Market (NEM) is an arrangement in Australia's electricity sector for the connection of the electricity transmission grids of the eastern and southern Australia states and territories to create a cross-state wholesale el ...

in 2010. The company also owns a 300 MW gas-fired peaking power station in the

Latrobe Valley The Latrobe Valley is an inland geographical district and urban area of the Gippsland region in the state of Victoria, Australia. The traditional owners are the Brayakaulung of the Gunai nation. The district lies east of Melbourne and nes ...

, a 320 MW gas-fired peaking power station at Laverton North near

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/ Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a metro ...

, and a 667 MW gas-fired peaking power station at Colongra on the Central Coast of

. It also owns three diesel-powered peaking power stations in

providing 136 MW between them. The company's production assets are summarised in the table below. These assets are used to generate electricity for sale under contract to the National Electricity Market.

Water storage and diversion

As part of the company's responsibilities for managing the Snowy Mountain Scheme, Snowy Hydro Limited also collects, stores, and diverts water for

irrigation Irrigation (also referred to as watering) is the practice of applying controlled amounts of water to land to help grow crops, landscape plants, and lawns. Irrigation has been a key aspect of agriculture for over 5,000 years and has been devel ...

from the

Snowy Mountains The Snowy Mountains, known informally as "The Snowies", is an IBRA subregion in southern New South Wales, Australia, and is the tallest mountain range in mainland Australia, being part of the continent's Great Dividing Range cordillera syst ...

catchment west to the

Murray Murray may refer to: Businesses * Murray (bicycle company), an American manufacturer of low-cost bicycles * Murrays, an Australian bus company * Murray International Trust, a Scottish investment trust * D. & W. Murray Limited, an Australian who ...

and

Murrumbidgee River The Murrumbidgee River () is a major tributary of the Murray River within the Murray–Darling basin and the second longest river in Australia. It flows through the Australian state of New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory, desce ...

systems under what is called the ''Snowy Water Licence''. Granted as part of the for fixed five-year terms, this licence prescribes the rights and obligations on the company with respect to the collection, diversion, storage, use, and release of water within the Snowy area. The Snowy Water Licence also imposes some obligations on the company in terms of releasing

environmental flows Environmental flows describe the quantity, timing, and quality of water flows required to sustain freshwater and estuarine ecosystems and the human livelihoods and well being that depend on these ecosystems. In the Indian context river flows requir ...

east into the

Snowy River The Snowy River is a major river in south-eastern Australia. It originates on the slopes of Mount Kosciuszko, Australia's highest mainland peak, draining the eastern slopes of the Snowy Mountains in New South Wales, before flowing through the ...

and other rivers in the Snowy Mountains region.

Proposed public divestment

In December 2005, the

Government of New South Wales The Government of New South Wales, also known as the NSW Government, is the States and territories of Australia, Australian state democratic administrative authority of New South Wales. It is currently held by a coalition of the Liberal Party o ...

announced it would sell its 58% share in Snowy Hydro, expecting to yield A$1 billion. The Federal and Victorian governments had followed suit, announcing by mid-February 2006 the intent to sell their 13% and 29% respectively, with A$1.7 billion (ranging up to A$3 billion) expectations through a

public float In the context of stock markets, the public float or free float represents the portion of shares of a corporation that are in the hands of public investors as opposed to locked-in shares held by promoters, company officers, controlling-interest inv ...

. Pre-registration for shares in Snowy Hydro opened in mid May and it was expected that the float would take place some time in July. Over 200,000 people pre-registered to purchase shares in the company over two weeks. On 2 June 2006, the Federal Government announced that it would no longer sell its 13% stake in the project, effectively forcing the hands of the New South Wales and Victorian governments to follow suit. The aborted sale followed strong opposition from the public, including government MPs and prominent Australians. In February 2014 the National Commission of Audit recommended in its Phase One Report that the Federal Government sell its interest in Snowy Hydro. In March 2018, the Federal Government bought out the New South Wales and Victorian government shareholdings.

Current market position

Since privatisation was cancelled in 2006, the company has continued to grow with investment into Snowy Scheme modernisation projects,

cloud seeding Cloud seeding is a type of weather modification that aims to change the amount or type of precipitation that falls from clouds by dispersing substances into the air that serve as cloud condensation or ice nuclei, which alter the microphysica ...

, development of mini hydro opportunities such as the 14 MW Jounama mini-hydro (commissioned in 2010) and growth of its retailing business, Red Energy. In September 2014 Snowy Hydro purchased gas and electricity retailer

for $600 million. Red Energy currently has 1.6 million electricity and gas customers. In addition Snowy Hydro has developed its gas-fired power station portfolio to reduce risks to the business due to its reliance on water as an energy source, and the potential impact of transmission constraints on the ability of the remote Snowy Mountains hydro generation assets to access the electricity grid. In January 2015 Snowy Hydro acquired the gas-fired Colongra Power Station in New South Wales.

References

External links

Construction Images

Snowy Hydro company website
* Audiovisual titles relating to the building of th
Snowy Hydro Scheme
o
''australianscreen''
*https://aboutregional.com.au/hundreds-gather-to-celebrate-the-mighty-snowy-scheme/ {{Energy in New South Wales, state=collapsed Companies based in New South Wales Electric power companies of Australia Former government-owned companies of New South Wales Commonwealth Government-owned companies of Australia Government-owned companies of Victoria (Australia) Snowy Mountains Scheme 1949 establishments in Australia