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 system. It makes up the northeastern half of the Australian Alps and contains Australia's five tallest peaks, all of which are above 2,100 m (6,890 ft), including the tallest Mount Kosciuszko, which reaches to a height of 2,228 m (7,310 ft) above sea level. The offshore Tasmanian highlands makes up the only other major alpine region present in the whole of Australia.
The Kosciuszko National Park is a 6,900-square-kilometre (2,700 sq mi) 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 wilderness, characterised by an alpine climate, which makes it popular with recreational skiers and bushwalkers.
The Snowy Mountains Scheme, also known as the Snowy Hydro or the Snowy scheme, is a hydroelectricity and irrigation complex in south-east Australia. Near the border of New South Wales and Victoria, the scheme consists of sixteen major dams; nine power stations; two pumping stations; and 225 kilometres (140 mi) of tunnels, pipelines and aqueducts that were constructed between 1949 and 1974. The Scheme was completed under the supervision of Chief Engineer, Sir William Hudson. It is the largest engineering project undertaken in Australia.
Duke Energy Corporation is an American electric power and natural gas holding company headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Snowy Hydro Limited is an electricity generation and retailing company in Australia that owns, manages, and maintains the Snowy Mountains Hydro-electric Scheme that 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. Snowy Hydro also owns and operates two gas-fired power stations in Victoria and one in New South Wales, three diesel power stations in South Australia and owns two electricity retailing businesses, Red Energy and Lumo Energy.
Consumers Energy is an investor owned utility that provides natural gas and electricity to 6.7 million of Michigan's 10 million residents. It serves customers in all 68 of the state's Lower Peninsula counties. It is the primary subsidiary of CMS Energy. The company was founded in 1886 and is currently headquartered in Jackson, Michigan.
The Blowering Dam is a major ungated rock fill with clay core embankment dam with concrete chute spillway impounding a reservoir under the same name. It is located on the Tumut River upstream of Tumut in the Snowy Mountains region of New South Wales, Australia. Purposes for the dam include flood mitigation, hydro-power, irrigation, water supply and conservation. The dam is part of the Snowy Mountains Scheme, a vast hydroelectricity and irrigation complex constructed in south-east Australia between 1949 and 1974 and now run by Snowy Hydro.
Munmorah Power Station is a demolished coal-fired power station with four 350 MW English Electric steam driven turbo-alternators for a combined capacity of 1,400 MW. The station was located near Doyalson, on the shores of Lake Munmorah, New South Wales, Australia and was owned and operated by Delta Electricity, a company owned by the New South Wales Government.
Guthega Power Station is located in the Snowy Mountains region of New South Wales, Australia. The power station's purpose is for the generation of electricity. It is the first to be completed and smallest of the initial seven hydroelectric power stations that comprise the Snowy Mountains Scheme, a vast hydroelectricity and irrigation complex constructed in south-east Australia between 1949 and 1974 and now run by Snowy Hydro.
Aberthaw Power Station refers to two decommissioned coal-fired and co-fired biomass power stations on the coast of South Wales, near Barry in the Vale of Glamorgan. They were located at Limpert Bay, near the villages of Gileston and West Aberthaw. The most recent power station on the site, Aberthaw B Power Station, co-fired biomass and as of 2008 had a generating capacity of 1,560 megawatts (MW). The power station closed on 31 March 2020.
Delta Electricity is an electricity generation company in Australia. The company was formed by the Government of New South Wales in 1996 as part of its reform of the electricity sector in the State, which saw the breakup of the Electricity Commission of New South Wales. Delta Electricity, which at the time owned only the Vales Point Power Station, was sold to Sunset Power International for $1 million in November 2015 and was valued at $730 million 2 years later. It has a portfolio of generating sites mainly using thermal coal power.
Laverton North Power Station is a natural gas-powered plant, owned and operated by Snowy Hydro Limited. It is situated in Laverton North, on the south-western outskirts of Melbourne, Victoria, approximately 15 km from the Melbourne Central Business District. It is a peaking power plant, particularly constructed to cater for the growth in Victoria's summer electricity demand, and can be rapidly activated when required.
AGL Energy Ltd is an Australian listed public company involved in both the generation and retailing of electricity and gas for residential and commercial use. AGL is Australia's largest electricity generator, and the nation's largest carbon emitter. In 2022, 83% of its energy came from burning coal. It produces more emissions as a single company than the nations of New Zealand, Portugal or Sweden, according to its largest shareholder, Mike Cannon-Brookes, who named it "one of the most toxic companies on the planet".
The energy policy of Australia is subject to the regulatory and fiscal influence of all three levels of government in Australia, although only the State and Federal levels determine policy for primary industries such as coal. Federal policies for energy in Australia continue to support the coal mining and natural gas industries through subsidies for fossil fuel use and production. Australia is the 10th most coal-dependent country in the world. Coal and natural gas, along with oil-based products, are currently the primary sources of Australian energy usage and the coal industry produces over 30% of Australia's total greenhouse gas emissions. In 2018 Australia was the 8th highest emitter of greenhouse gases per capita in the world.
Renewable energy in Australia is mainly based on biomass, solar, wind, and hydro generation. Over a third of electricity is generated from renewables, and is increasing, with a target to phase out coal power before 2040. Wind energy and rooftop solar have particularly grown since 2010. The growth has been stimulated by government energy policy in order to limit the rate of climate change in Australia that has been brought about by the use of fossil fuels. Pros and cons of various types of renewable energy are being investigated, and more recently there have been trials of green hydrogen and wave power.
Tantangara Dam is a major ungated concrete gravity dam with concrete chute spillway across the Murrumbidgee River in Tantangara, upstream of Adaminaby in the Snowy Mountains region of New South Wales, Australia. The dam is part of the Snowy Mountains Scheme, a vast hydroelectricity and irrigation complex constructed in south-east Australia between 1949 and 1974 and now run by Snowy Hydro. The purpose of the dam includes water management and conservation, with much of the impounded headwaters diverted to Lake Eucumbene. The impounded reservoir is called Tantangara Reservoir.
Braemar Power Station is a complex of natural gas and coal seam gas fired combined-cycle power stations in Kogan, Western Downs Region, Queensland, Australia. It is near Dalby in the Darling Downs region.
Khancoban Dam is a major ungated earthfill embankment dam with a controlled spillway across the Swampy Plain River in the Snowy Mountains region of New South Wales, Australia. The dam's main purpose is for the generation of hydro-power and is one of the sixteen major dams that comprise the Snowy Mountains Scheme, a vast hydroelectricity and irrigation complex constructed in south-east Australia between 1949 and 1974 and now run by Snowy Hydro.
The electricity sector in Australia has been historically dominated by coal-fired power stations, but renewables are forming a rapidly growing fraction of supply. In 2021, Australia's electricity production reached 265 TWh, with coal accounting for 52.9% and natural gas for 18.8%. Renewable sources, comprising solar, wind, hydro, and bioenergy with waste, collectively made up 26.7% of the total electricity generation mix.
Snowy 2.0 Pumped Storage Power Station or Snowy Hydro 2.0 or simply Snowy 2.0 is a pumped-hydro battery megaproject in New South Wales, Australia. The dispatchable generation project expands upon the original Snowy Mountains Scheme connecting two existing dams through a 27-kilometre (17 mi) underground tunnel and a new, underground pumped-hydro power station. Construction began in 2019. It is expected to supply 2.2 gigawatts of capacity and about 350,000 megawatt hours of large-scale storage to the national electricity market. It is the largest renewable energy project under construction in Australia. It includes one of the largest and deepest cavern excavations ever undertaken. It also includes the longest tunnels at 27 kilometres in length, of any pumped-hydro station ever built.
