Reopened Issue: SharePoint Powershell snapin not loading [16553]

I've experiencing the same problem as the one logged here http://autospinstaller.codeplex.com/workitem/14838?FocusElement=CommentTextBox
 
The first execution of AutoSPInstaller fails to complete and I see the message:
 
The local farm is not accessible. Cmdlets with FeatureDependencyId are not registered.
No xml configuration files loaded.
The type initialize for 'Microsoft.SharePoint.Utilities.SPUtility' threw an exception.
 
and the script aborts. When I rerun the script you see the single line:
 
The local farm is not accessible. Cmdlets with FeatureDependencyId are not registered.
 
and then script continues successfully?
 
I'm using a clean build of Windows Server 2008R2 Datacentre in a VM with an exisiting farm and the sql server hosted in a separate VM.