Corporation | |
Industry | Energy |
Founded | 1949 2001 as Snowy Hydro Limited |
as Snowy Mountains Hydro-electric Authority
Headquarters | Cooma, New South Wales, Australia |
Area served
|
New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, and the Australian Capital Territory |
Key people
|
Noel Cornish (Chairman) Paul Broad (Managing Director and CEO) |
Products | Electricity generation |
Services | Electricity retailing, bulk water management |
Revenue | A$1.201 billion (2013) |
A$400 million (2013) | |
A$280 million (2013) | |
Total assets | A$2.424 billion (2013) |
Total equity | A$1.795 billion (2013) |
Owner |
Commonwealth Government (13%), Government of New South Wales (58%) and Government of Victoria (29%) |
Number of employees
|
650 |
Subsidiaries | Red Energy Pty. Limited and Valley Power Pty. Limited |
Website | www.snowyhydro.com.au |
Snowy Hydro Limited is an electricity generation and retailing company in Australia that owns, manages, and maintains the Snowy Mountains Hydro-electric Scheme which 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, and owns two electricity retailing businesses (Red Energy and Lumo Energy).
The company is jointly owned by the Commonwealth (13%), New South Wales (58%) and Victorian (29%) governments and whilst not a statutory corporation, is established by the Snowy Mountains Hydro-electric Power Act 1949 (Cth). Prior to its incorporation under the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth), the company was previously known as Snowy Mountains Hydro-electric Authority.
The company manages the Snowy Mountains Scheme which generates on average around 4,500 gigawatt hours of clean, renewable energy each year, which is around 37% of all renewable energy in the mainland National Electricity Market in 2010.
The company also owns a 300 MW gas-fired peaking power station in Victoria's Latrobe Valley, a 320 MW gas-fired peaking power station at Laverton North near Melbourne, and a 667 MW gas-fired peaking power station at Colongra on the Central Coast of New South Wales. The company's production assets are summarised in the table below. These assets are used to generate electricity for sale under contract to the National Electricity Market.
As part of the company's responsibilities for managing the Snowy Mountain Scheme, Snowy Hydro Limited also collects, stores, and diverts water for irrigation from the Snowy Mountains catchment west to the Murray and Murrumbidgee River systems under what is called the Snowy Water Licence. Granted as part of the Snowy Hydro Corporatisation Act, 1997 (NSW) for fixed five year terms, this licence prescribes the rights and obligations on the company with respect to the collection, diversion, storage, use, and release of water within the Snowy area. The Snowy Water Licence also imposes some obligations on the company in terms of releasing environmental flows east into the Snowy River and other rivers in the Snowy Mountains region.