Voith has received a contract to supply the electrical and mechanical components for the Snowy 2.0 pumped storage power project in Australia.

Snowy river Dam

Image: The Snowy Mountains Scheme is located in New South Wales. Photo: courtesy of Clough.

Under the contract, Voith will supply electrical and mechanical components including three innovative variable-speed pump turbines for the power project.

The scope of the supply includes six reversible pump turbines, each with a rated output of 333MW, three of which are variable-speed.

Voith will also provide six motor generators, the auxiliary systems and the complete power plant automation.

The firm said that the project makes a significant contribution, both to grid stabilization and to the further expansion of power generation from renewable energy.

Voith had signed the contract with Future Generation Joint Venture, a joint venture between Salini Impregilo, Clough and Lane. Clough has 35% stake in the JV, while Salini Impregilo and its US subsidiary Lane own a combined stake of 65%.

The Snowy Hydro 2.0 project involves expansion of the existing Snowy Hydro-operated 4.1GW Snowy Mountains Scheme to ensure increased stability and security to the energy market in the future.

The expansion project involves connection of two existing hydropower plants to increase the existing capacity by 2GW and also triple its pumping capabilities.

Voith Hydro president and CEO Uwe Wehnhardt said: “Voith is very proud to be a part of this exciting and important hydropower project and to continue to contribute to Australia’s renewable energy development.”

Additionally, the project will provide 175 hours of storage for the National Electricity Market (NEM) which is enough to ensure the stability and reliability of the system during prolonged weather events, such as wind or solar droughts, Clough said.

Recently, Salini Impregilo and its joint venture partner Australia’s Clough have secured A$5.1bn (€3.228bn) contract for civil works and electromechanical component of the Snowy 2.0 project, which scheduled to be commissioned early as 2024.

Under the contract, Salini Impregilo will link the existing Tantangara and Talbingo dams. Work involves excavating a series of tunnels and building a hydroelectric power station with pumping facilities located nearly 1km underground.