Snowy Hydro Limited

Snowy Hydro Limited, previously known as the Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric Authority, is a corporation in Australia jointly owned by the Commonwealth (13%), New South Wales (58%) and Victorian (29%) Governments. The head office of the corporation is in Cooma.

The company manages the Snowy Mountains Scheme which generates on average around 4500 gigawatt hours of renewable energy each year, which is around 74% of all renewable energy in the National Electricity Market in 2005. The scheme also diverts water for irrigation from the Snowy River Catchment west to the Murray and Murrumbidgee River systems.

In addition to owning the Snowy Mountains Scheme, the company owns an energy retailer in Victoria, Red Energy, a 300MW gas-fired power station in Victoria's Latrobe Valley and completed an additional 320MW gas peaking generation plant in near Melbourne.

In December 2005, the NSW Government announced it would sell its 58% share in Snowy Hydro. The Federal and Victorian governments had followed suit, announcing the intent to sell their 13% and 29% respectively. 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.

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. [cite news | first=James | last=Grubel | author= | url=http://today.reuters.com/business/newsarticle.aspx?type=tnBusinessNews&storyID=nSYD299666&imageid=&c

title=Australian government scuppers Snowy Hydro sale | publisher= Reuters | date=2 June 2006 | accessdate=2006-06-02] Despite this, over 200,000 people pre-registered to purchase shares in the company over two weeks.

There is now some question over the future direction of the company, as it is unable to raise new capital to fund new investment. Morris Iemma, Premier of New South Wales has ruled out the capital requirements being funded by New South Wales taxpayers.

After the privatisation of the company was abandoned, its CEO, Terry Charlton announced that the company was abandoning plans for a 100-person call centre in Cooma, New South Wales plus a 14MW hydro-electric power station at Jounama Dam. Mr Charlton also stated that capital expenditure on maintaining and developing its core business would be cut. [cite news | first=Rod | last=Meyer | author= | url= http://www.theage.com.au/news/business/snowys-wish-list-torpedoed-by-stymied-float/2006/06/14/1149964606122.html
title=Snowy's wish list torpedoed by stymied float | publisher= The Age | date=17 June 2006 | accessdate=2006-06-15]

The 14 MW hydro electric power station at Jounama Pondage is now under construction and expected to be commissioned in mid-2008. Snowy Hydro Limited continues to review opportunities for additional generation capacity within the Snowy Mountains Scheme, such as at Khancoban Dam.

In addition Snowy Hydro is presently seeking to expand its gas-fired power station portfolio. This strategy is aimed at reducing risks to the business due to its reliance on water as an energy source, and due to the Snowy Mountains Scheme's geographical isolation on the electricity grid making it subject to transmission constraints in some circumstances.

ee also

* Snowy Mountains Scheme

References

External links

* [http://www.snowyhydro.com.au/ Snowy Hydro company website]