Tuesday 10/6/2008 Page: 3
THE $250million Bogong Power Station project Is on the brink of a major milestone. A giant boring machine digging a 6.5km tunnel for the hydro-electric power station is expected to reach the halfway point today. The 5m-diameter tunnel Is the key to delivering water from the McKay Creek Power Station direct to Bogong. Late last week the $12 million, 140m-long tunnel-boring machine was approaching the 3km mark and Is now more than 300m underground.An AGL project spokesman said contractors were on track to complete the tunnel early next year. "The expected completion date Is February," he said last week. "We are about five days away from marking the halfway point on the tunnel. "The machine Is 330m below the surface but still yet to reach its deepest point. "Just last week we had our most productive day cutting through 54m of rock In 24 hours." The spokesman said there had been no repeat of the problems that plagued the machine late last year and sidelined tunnel works for three months.
"We are applying tender loving care to the machine," he said. "It Is a case of monitoring its progress and performance and making sure any problems don't get out of hand." The progress on the tunnel has also reaped dividends for the sealing of the Bogong High Plains Road. Rock from the tunnel is being shifted to the high plains for use as road base in what is a separate $10 million project.
"More than 75,000 tonnes of spoil have been shifted to the high plains so far," the spokesman said. "That's 2500 truck and trailer loads already." The spokesman said other elements of the project were also on track for completion early next year. "The power station building Is rising out of the ground," he said.
"In the next couple of weeks we will be loading the first turbine Into place and the second turbine Is about four weeks behind that." AGL's 140Mw hydro power station on Lake Guy, between Mount Beauty and Falls Creek, is the biggest addition to the Kiewa hydro scheme since the 1960s.
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