A fourth cost blowout is set to hit the Snowy 2.0 pumped hydro project, where the price has already soared sixfold above the original estimate, as the Commonwealth-owned company announces a comprehensive review of the project’s costs.

The huge project is viewed by governments and the electricity market operator as a crucial element of Australia’s transition from a coal powered grid to one dominated by renewable energy.

Snowy Hydro chief executive Dennis Barnes announced on Friday that the company would conduct a “line-by-line reassessment” of contractor Future Generation Joint Venture’s costs, which is expected to take nine months to complete. He declined to estimate how much the blowout could be.

Any price rise is bad news for the Albanese government, which is already facing scrutiny o

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