Alpine Habitats is the perfect place to stay while you explore the Snowy Mountains Hydro-electric Scheme. The Murray 1 Visitor Centre is an easy (and beautiful) drive from Alpine Habitats and you can detour to look at Geehi Reservoir. Lake Jindabyne is only 10 km from Alpine Habitats and Lake Eucumbene about a 45 minute drive. These are the two largest dams in the system. For another very scenic drive you can got to Guthega and see the power station there via Island Bend Reservior. You can see a map of this drive on our scenic drives page. The Snowy Mountains Scheme Education Centre is in Cooma and will be on your way here if you are coming from Canberra or Sydney.
The map below shows a loop drive that will take you past Murray 1 Visitor Centre, Tooma Reservoir, Tumut Pond Reservoir, Lakes Eucumbene and Jindabyne and the scenery is amazing! You can get meals along the way at Khancoban, Cabramurra, Adaminaby, Beridale and Jindabyne.
The scheme is one of the most complex integrated water and hydro-electric power schemes in the world. The Scheme collects and stores the water that would normally flow east to the coast and diverts it through trans-mountain tunnels and power stations. The water is then released into the Murray and Murrumbidgee Rivers for irrigation.
The Scheme took 25 years to build and was completed in 1974. More than 100,000 people from over 30 countries came to work in the mountains to make true a vision of diverting water to farms to feed a growing nation and to build power stations to generate renewable electricity for homes and industries.
Sixteen major dams, seven major power stations (two underground), a pumping station, 145kms of inter-connected trans-mountain tunnels and 80kms of aqueducts were constructed. Even before the Scheme was completed, it was named as one of the civil engineering wonders of the modern world.
The Scheme is operated and maintained by Snowy Hydro Limited.
Today, Snowy Hydro continues to play a vital role in the growth and the development of Australia’s national economy, by diverting water that underwrites over $3 billion in agricultural produce and by generating clean renewable energy.
Snowy Hydro currently provides around 50% of all renewable energy that is available to the eastern mainland grid of Australia, as well as providing fast response power to light up the morning and evening rush hours of Sydney, Brisbane, Canberra, Melbourne and Adelaide.
For information on touring the scheme, have a look at the touring brouchure from Snowy Hydro (http://www NULL.snowyhydro NULL.com NULL.au/files/SnowyDriveGuideJune09 NULL.pdf)
For a sneak preview of what you might see, take a look at the short video below.
The Scheme took 25 years to build and was completed in 1974. More than 100,000 people from over 30 countries came to work in the mountains to make true a vision of diverting water to farms to feed a growing nation and to build power stations to generate renewable electricity for homes and industries.
