Independent modelling from Baringa Partners confirms Snowy 2.0 is critical to maintaining reliable electricity supply and market stability after coal-fired power stations retire.
Snowy 2.0 will provide 350GWh of energy storage, the equivalent of 26 million home batteries, offering the multi-day reliability insurance that short-duration batteries cannot match.
Independent modelling from Baringa Partners released today confirms Snowy 2.0 is an indispensable insurance policy for Australia's future energy mix.
Baringa's white paper underscores that without the massive 350GWh of deep storage offered by Snowy 2.0, the National Electricity Market (NEM) faces a critical reliability gap short-duration batteries cannot bridge.
A scenario mapped by Baringa, when ageing coal-fired plants are retired, shows having short-duration batteries as the NEM's only form of storage would place unprecedented stress on grid stability and drive increases in wholesale prices during wind and solar droughts. With Snowy 2.0, which can generate continuously for a week, as part of the energy mix, the system remains stable and average wholesale prices are suppressed by $7,095/MWh.
Snowy Hydro CEO Dennis Barnes said the findings offer a definitive look at why a post-coal grid must be backed by a mix of storage durations.
"Short-term batteries are the sprint-runners, vital for daily balancing, but only Snowy 2.0 can run the marathon.
"Batteries are the best value way of providing short-duration storage, but they cannot see the grid through the multi-day wind droughts that Australia has seen before and will inevitably see again.
"Without Snowy 2.0, grid resilience is heavily compromised, threatening continuous supply during prolonged lulls in wind and solar generation. Snowy 2.0 will provide 350GWh of storage, the equivalent of 26 million home batteries, and the scale required to ensure a reliable power supply for every Australian."
Mr Barnes said Snowy 2.0 is a 150-year investment in Australia's energy sovereignty.
"Like the original Snowy Scheme, which still underpins energy reliability more than 50 years after its construction, the pumped hydro expansion will be a national asset powering Australia for generations," he said.
Despite the challenges that come with Snowy 2.0's complexity, the project is hitting significant delivery milestones. Tunnel boring machine (TBM) Lady Eileen Hudson last month completed the six-kilometre tailrace tunnel connecting Talbingo Reservoir to the project's underground power station complex. This is the TBM's second tunnel, after completing an almost three-kilometre access tunnel earlier in the project.
Excavation of the power station caverns, almost a kilometre underground and with a volume greater than the Sydney Opera House, is almost complete and the project is readying for the start of power station construction.
Click here to read Baringa's white paper: The role of deep storage in our electricity system.
