AUSTRALIA SNOWY MOUNTAINS SCHEME ON GROUND ZERO

YEP ... AND THIS IS A CLEAR RESULT OF THE DIVINE DRUDGING DROUGHT
INDEED !
As all know, the DDD was required 10 years ago as a result of
Australia 's well documented Collective Crimes.
It is presently in full swing & progressing too !

Sir Jean-Paul Turcaud
Australia Mining Pioneer

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Drought threatens Australia's hydropower scheme
24 Apr 2007 07:52:17 GMT
Source: Reuters
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By Rob Taylor

CANBERRA, April 24 (Reuters) - Australia's biggest renewable
electricity source, the Snowy Hydro power scheme, may have to shut
down major generating turbines due to the nation's crippling 10-year
drought.

In a desperate attempt to keep running, the Snowy Hydro operator said
on Tuesday it had turned to cloud seeding to boost water inflows.

"It is unrealistic for anyone to think that the Snowy scheme could
somehow have been immune from the effects of the current severe
drought," Snowy Hydro Ltd Managing Director Terry Charlton said in a
statement.

Prime Minister John Howard last week asked Australians to pray for
rain in the food bowl Murray-Darling River basin, an area the size of
France and Spain that accounts for 41 percent of the nation's
agriculture.

Howard warned that without heavy winter rains in coming months,
irrigation in the food bowl would be turned off as the worst drought
for 100 years grips Australia.

In a move that local authorities feared could reduce supply of power
to the capital Canberra, and major cities Sydney and Melbourne, some
of Snowy Hydro's operations could be stopped by May-July without heavy
winter rains, the Snowy Hydro said.

The company said that if current drought conditions continue, water
levels would drop by May to minimum operating levels in the two major
artificial lakes at the heart of the project, an internal assessment
for Snowy Hydro said.

"It is possible, but not yet probable, Lake Jindabyne will drop up to
a further 1.5 metres (5 feet) below minimum... by late June/early
July," it said in a statement.

Water levels in Lake Eucumbene and Lake Jindabyne were at just 10
percent of maximum.

CLOUD SEEDING

The Snowy Mountains Scheme is a combined water diversion, storage and
hydro project built over 25 years, which links seven power stations
and 16 major dams through 145 km (90 miles) of tunnels cut through
Australia's rugged southeastern alps.

Australia's government last year blocked a planned A$1.7 billion
privatisation of the scheme, built with a largely migrant workforce
topping 100,000.

The project provides 74 percent of the renewable energy in the
mainland power market, shifting snow-fed rivers west to irrigators in
the Murrumbidgee and Murray River valleys.

Snowy Hydro contributes around 3.5 percent of the power in Australia's
national electricity grid. If the shortage persists, it may be filled
by electricity from coal-powered stations in the national grid, or by
green sources from other areas.

The company said it was confident it would meet electricity and water
commitments until the end of the year with the wettest winter months
approaching, and following a cloud seeding programme and recycling at
its biggest power station.

"Cloud seeding is a solid programme, well accepted overseas for over
40 years. But it's just one of our strategies," a Snowy Hydro
spokesman said.

Snowy River Mayor Richard Wallace said storages should have been
protected and have been allowed to fall so low that a $10 billion
national water reform plan under consideration by state and national
governments may come too late.

Parts of Australia have been in the grip of drought for a decade.
Analysts say the A$940 billion ($783 billion) economy would grow up to
1 percent more in fiscal 2006-07 were it not for the drought. ($1=A
$1.20)