The TBM is set to start excavating an addition to the planned headrace tunnel at Tantangara, one of two reservoirs that will be part of the pumped storage scheme in the Snowy Mountains. The technologically advanced machine is 143m long with a cutterhead 11m in diameter. Designed to manage hazardous dust and poor ground conditions while tunnelling up to 450m underground, it will excavate 15.4km of the 17km headrace tunnel.

Snowy 2.0 will have 2,000MW of pumping and generating capacity - enough to power 500,000 homes.