By rosebell
The concreting of the crane runway beams for the Rudolf Fettweis power plant conversion in Germany, has been completed by Porr Tunnelbau.
Being used to transport materials during the construction period, the crane runway beams serve as supports for the wooden vaulted ceiling of the Schwarzenbach part of the cavern. In order to ensuring the beams were fixed securely, the anchors were tightened after completing the required hardening time of the concrete and the formwork, which served as a support structure during the work, will then be systematically dismantled.
While the mid-February was the date of lifting crane into place, installation of the crane runway beams follows the breakthrough of the energy diversion tunnel and its full connection to the cavern in mid-January.
The scheduled date for commencing excavation on the Schwarzenbach access tunnel was early February, whereas the access tunnel is going to create a link between the surge tank and the shaft head cavern. From there, raise-boring work will be carried out this summer, in which a circular shaft will be drilled from bottom to top along a pilot bore. As an important prerequisite for the planned infrastructure, this work is essential for the further construction phases.
With almost 5.3km of total excavated length, the project’s around 4.7km is tunnels.
The power plant cavern is approximately 123m long, 20m wide and 42m high. In total, around 400,000m3 is being excavated, of which 200,000m3 is intended for water storage in the main and secondary tunnels.
While autumn 2023 was the date of starting construction works of this project, it is due to be completed in 2027.
The time of launching heritage-protected run-of-river power plant was in 1914 and converting it to a pumped storage power plant will significantly increase its efficiency.
