Snowy 2.0 boss says NetZero is ‘bullsh*t’, page-151

but it gets worse.....

"The (Business) Case states that Snowy 2.0’s revenue “is based on a diverse and robust earnings profile, derived from four revenue streams” – storage value (60%), wholesale firming/ capacity sales (34%), retail diversification (5%) and ancillary services (1%).No information is provided on the latter three revenue streams, so no comment can be made.

But some limited information is provided on the storage value, which comes from ”time-shifting energy … by purchasing energy at low prices for pumping, then selling the energy when prices are higher”.

Two core factors determine storage value – the generation production volume and the price differential between purchases for pumping and sales from generating.

The Business Case assumes average generation production of 5,300 gigawatt-hours per year, up 50% from the 3,500 GWh cited in the FID, and an average price differential of $100 per mega-watt hour, up 18% from $85/MWh in the FID (see Figure 1). No explanation or justification is provided for these assumptions.

To produce 5,300 GWh annually would require Snowy 2.0 to generate at its full capacity of 2200 MW for almost seven hours on average every day of every year [5300/(2.2×365)].

Additionally, Snowy 2.0 would need to consume 7,100 GWh of pumping power annually [5300/0.75 efficiency] to replenish the upper reservoir, pumping for nine hours every day on average at full capacity.

That adds up to a minimum of sixteen hours a day of operation, and longer when generating or pumping at less than full capacity. For example, at 1,400 MW Snowy 2.0 would need to generate or pump all day.

More inconceivable still, the actual hours of operation would need to be even longer due to the drop in round-trip efficiency at such elevated levels of operation. "