Hochtief Solutions has won a €132m (£105m) contract to build a tunnel for the Gemeinschaftkraftwerk Inn power station, in Austria. Construction will involve the excavation of more than 22km of pressure tunnel and is the largest and most significant of three contracts for the hydroelectric power station on the River Inn.
“We are happy to have won another large-scale contract in the Austrian market. This underscores our competence in the construction of sustainable energy infrastructure in Europe,” said Wilfried Rammler, General Manager of Hochtief Infrastructure.
The pressure tunnel with a total length of 22.6km and a diameter of 6.5m will run underground from the reservoir in Ovella to the powerhouse in Prutz. Hochtief will drive the pressure tunnel with two hard rock double-shield TBMs. Excavation materials will be stored near the construction site in order to reduce site traffic to a necessary minimum. The tunnel will be lined with pre-cast concrete segments. The reinforced concrete segments will be produced locally in a field factory.
In future, the water will be channelled through the tunnel to the powerhouse in Prutz where, once the structure is completed, environmentally friendly electrical power will be generated for more than 100,000 households.
The tunnel is due be complete in mid-2018.
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