Snowy 2.0 exit cost unknown despite price blowout

Key points

• The cost of abandoning Snowy 2.0, Australia's largest renewable energy project, is still unknown. Snowy Hydro chief executive Dennis Barnes told a Senate estimates committee that the cost of ending the project has not been modelled.
• The company estimates completion will now cost between $22.2 billion and $25 billion, up from $12 billion in 2023. Barnes said replacing the project with batteries was modelled at $80 billion.
• Innovation Minister Tim Ayres said abandoning the project would be immensely costly and that the government would see it through.