Snowy 2.0 – Marica Road West HDD
An international leader in trenchless construction, Michels is known for completing trenchless pipeline crossings in situations that might be considered too risky or even impossible by many others in the industry.
In 2023, we were asked to complete another previously unaccomplished task: installation of a critical, extremely complex horizontal directional drilling (HDD) component of the Snowy 2.0 Pumped Hydro Project in New South Wales, Australia.
Stretching from Lobs Hole to Marica, the Marica Road HDD is 2,248 meters long, an impressive, yet not exceptional, length for a highly skilled trenchless contractor. However, the HDD borehole included an elevation difference of 600 meters from low side to high side—a configuration never achieved by HDD. Nevertheless, the HDD method had the highest probability for the successful installation of a 219-millimeter-diameter fiberglass reinforced polymer (FRP) carrier pipeline and its critical cables in an environmentally significant area.
Completing the project safely while maintaining strict environmental standards required us to innovate all phases of planning and construction. Rather than perform a conventional one-rig pilot hole, we determined the pilot hole intersect method would be a better way to achieve the customer’s project goals. The team used two Michels-designed and fabricated rigs, each with 880,000 pounds of push/pull force.
Adding further complexity to an already challenging project, the drill sites in Kosciuszko National Park were in an extremely remote location with strict environmental regulations.
The Marica Road West HDD was necessary for the installation of power, water, and communication cables required to build and operate Snowy 2.0, the largest committed renewable energy project in Australia.
Michels’ contributions to this project earned the No-Dig Award for New Installment from the International Society for Trenchless Technology (ISTT) in 2025.
