Underground—EMEA—Austria—Tunneling
Flexible Energy Generation: DSI supplies Ground Support Products for
Obervermuntwerk II at a Height of 1,700m
At the rear of the Montafon Valley in Austria, a modern pumped storage power station is
being built at an elevation of 1,700m: The Obervermuntwerk II. The power plant benefits
from the height difference of 300m between the 2,030m high Silvretta Reservoir and the
1,743m high Vermunt Reservoir.
Within a few seconds, the power plant can
react to fluctuations in the power network that
are caused by regenerative energies such as
wind or solar energy. When there is excess
capacity, the water is pumped back into the
Silvretta Reservoir and can thus be re-used
for generating energy.
After its completion that is scheduled for the
end of 2018, the pumped storage power
station will have a generating capacity of
360MW. It includes two Francis turbines and
26
2 main pumps with a capacity of 180MW each.
The power plant is being built underground
and is designed as an extension of the existing
Obervermuntwerk I that has been operational
since 1943.
The new cavern power plant consists of an
intake structure in the Silvretta Reservoir,
a penstock shaft, a head race tunnel, a double
chamber surge shaft and a pressure tunnel
with subsequent distributing pipelines towards
the power plant cavern.
The existing, 3.3km long, surface pressure
pipe line of Obervermuntwerk I is being
replaced by an underground water conductor
system that will be shared by both power
plants. The pressure tunnel is being built as
a pipe gallery.
On the 1,700m high jobsite – the highest
of a total of 5 construction areas – concrete
is being produced on site. Mainly rock
excavation material is used for concrete
production.