Webuild, as part of Future Generation Joint Venture, the principal contractor for Snowy Hydro’s Snowy 2.0 Project, has reached a major construction milestone with the commissioning of the project’s fourth tunnel boring machine. This landmark renewable energy mega-project is now more than 70 per cent complete.
Named in honour of Monica Brimmer, a talented Tumut High School student and winner of a First Nations art and storytelling competition, the machine was powered up during a ceremony on-site.
Joined by Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen on-site, Monica radioed in instructions for the first rotation of the TBM’s huge 12-metre cutterhead to applause from local community members and workers in attendance.
TBM Monica is among the world’s most advanced tunnel boring machines. It has been purpose-built to tackle the Snowy Mountain’s unique and highly variable geological conditions.
Launching from the project’s Marica worksite, just outside Kiandra, TBM Monica will begin tunnelling in the coming weeks and will excavate the portion of the 17-kilometre headrace tunnel that passes through the geologically challenging Long Plain Fault Zone.
The commissioning milestone comes as significant progress is made across the project’s worksites in the NSW Snowy Mountains.
Almost one kilometre underground at the project’s Lobs Hole worksite, the project’s focus is shifting from tunnelling and excavation to preparing the intricate fit-out of a complex underground power plant the size of Sydney Opera House.
To prepare for this, 46 permanent concrete pours have already been completed.
More than 733,000m3 of underground excavation - equivalent to 293 Olympic sized swimming pools of material - has taken place in the huge subterranean caverns that were created using drill-and-blast techniques, some of which were pioneered on the original Snowy Scheme.
Marco Assorati, Senior Executive Vice President Operations Oceania for Webuild, added: “Webuild, as part of Future Generation Joint Venture, is proud to contribute its global expertise in large-scale tunnelling and hydropower to a project that will play such a critical role in securing Australia’s renewable energy future.”
“Snowy 2.0 is among the most complex underground infrastructure projects in the world, and the successful commissioning of the fourth tunnel boring machine reflects the extraordinary collaboration between our teams, our partners and the local community.”
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About Webuild
Webuild is a global leader in the construction of large, complex infrastructure projects, with a focus on sustainable mobility, hydropower, water treatment, and green buildings. A recognized leader in the water sector and active in about 50 countries, the Group employs approximately 95,000 people of over 125 nationalities. It boasts 120 years of experience with over 3,700 completed projects. Its track record includes 13,648 kilometres of railways, 891 kilometres of metro lines, 82,577 kilometres of roads and highways, 1,022 kilometres of bridges and viaducts, 3,462 kilometres of tunnels, and 319 dams and hydropower plants. Among its most iconic projects are the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam in Ethiopia, the expansion of the Panama Canal, the Long Beach International Gateway bridge in California, the Second Bosphorus Bridge in Turkey, the Sydney Metro Northwest skytrain viaduct and bridge, the Kingdom Centre skyscraper in Riyadh, and metro lines in cities such as Copenhagen, Paris, Rome, Milan, Naples, Doha, Thessaloniki, and Riyadh. Ongoing projects include the New Genoa Breakwater, the Brenner Base Tunnel, the Pedemontana Lombarda Highway, Metro di Roma’s Line C, the Genoa-Milan and Naples-Bari high-speed/high-capacity railways, the Palermo-Catania-Messina high-capacity railway, the Snowy 2.0 hydropower scheme in Australia and the Dams System in Trojena in Saudi Arabia. As of December 31, 2024, the Group registered total revenues of €12 billion. As of June 30, 2025, its total order backlog stands at approximately €59 billion, with over 90% of its construction backlog related to projects linked to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Listed on the Borsa Italiana stock exchange in Milan (WBD; WBD.MI; WBD:IM), it is member of the MIB ESG index of Italian companies with best ESG practices. Headquartered in Italy, it is subject to the management and coordination of Salini Costruttori S.p.A.
Webuild Australia | Webuild Group
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