Still in the dark: Snowy Hydro’s awkward anniversary marked without promised review of Snowy 2 costings

A year on from announcing a comprehensive cost review, Snowy Hydro has released no findings. The project was officially "reset" at $12 billion in 2023, but reporting suggests final costs could reach $20 billion or more. The review was promised within nine months. Snowy and the government now offer only that they "continue to work closely" on the reassessment, with no timeline disclosed. The project remains scheduled for completion by end of 2028, less than 27 months away, despite being only 67% complete and facing material cost pressures.

Where this fits

Snowy 2.0 is Australia's largest planned storage project and central to the grid-firming strategy for a renewables-dominant system. The ballooning, opaque costs and slipping accountability exemplify the hidden whole-system price of a renewable transition. Pumped hydro is firm power, which Australia needs, but the project's cost blowout and secretive review process show that even storage, the reliability solution most aligned with the renewable path, is proving far more expensive and slower than politically promised.

What it means

A $12 billion project trending toward $20 billion is a material claim on Australia's capital. The absence of public cost findings leaves voters and investors unable to weigh whether this firming solution remains cost-effective against alternatives, or whether the money would be better deployed elsewhere in the grid. The government's silence suggests the numbers are worse than expected. That matters because a reliable grid requires firm power, and if Australia is betting on storage rather than the lowest-cost firm option, nuclear, the fiscal and timeline risks compound.