Glendoe Hydro Scheme

  • Glendoe Hydro Scheme
  • Glendoe Hydro Scheme
  • Glendoe Hydro Scheme

Glendoe Hydro Scheme 

On the banks of Loch Ness, near Fort Augustus in the Scottish upland moor and in the middle of a nature reserve, a 100 MW hydroelectric power station is to be built.

At the end of 2005, Hochtief Construction was awarded the contract for planning and turnkey construction of the power plant as general contractor.

The water for power generation will be collected in a 75 km² catchment area and fed to the reservoir through a pipeline and tunnel system. From there, it will pass through the headrace tunnel to the power plant cavern and finally be discharged through the underwater tunnel into Loch Ness.

The reservoir is formed by a dam. On the water side it is sealed by a concrete skirt. A grouting curtain prevents the water from flowing under the dam. Bottom outlet and spillway are part of the construction. The 1159 m long horseshoe-shaped access tunnel was excavated by using explosive drifting and shotcrete. The tunnel with a cross-sectional area of 43 m² already served as access to the power plant cavern during construction and now houses the 132 kV high-voltage cable. The 8.5 km long feeder tunnel was built over five access points. Around 1.5 km could be constructed using the cut-and-cover method. The by-pass system is supplemented by 4 km of pipeline with a diameter of 2.0 m. In total, water is drawn from 17 streams. However, it must be ensured that the rivers and streams in the region do not dry out at any time.

The material was transported away on conveyor belts. Even during the construction period, electricity was generated in this way: the conveyor motors worked as generators. In order to provide access to the individual construction sites, around 50 km of roads had to be extended, rebuilt and in some cases dismantled. Six bridges were strengthened and/or newly built. The installation of the 100 MW Pelton turbine ready for operation was completed ahead of schedule so that electricity could be generated as early as December 2008, three months earlier than planned.

Facts and figures

  • Country: Great Britain/Scotland
  • Region: United Kingdom/Scotland
  • Tunnel usage: Utility
  • Type of use: electricity generation
  • Client: Scottish and Southern Energy
  • Planner reference design: Jacobs
  • Construction: Hochtief Construction AG
  • Building method: closed
  • Excavation method: blast excavation/tunneling machine
  • No. of tubes: 2
  • Total length 8200 or 8100 m
  • Project data: Power plant cavern 38m x 18m, 32m high/Dam 960 m, max. 35 m high/SBW tunnel 8200 m (19 to 43m²)/TBM tunnel 8100 m (drill diameter 5.00 m)
  • Costs: approx. 180 million euros
  • Time of construction: January 2006 to February 2009

Further information and source: http://www.daub-ita.de/projektdatenbank/andere-laender/glendoe-hydro-scheme/ (Deutscher Ausschuss für unterirdisches Bauen e.V.)

Contact

Marzi Strutzke
Marzi Strutzke
MSc
Project Manager; Business Development Manager EMEA
phone: +49 (931) 35503-776

Cloud-based Project collaboration with EPLASS:

The Glendoe Hydro Scheme is one of the first international projects by HOCHTIEF Construction which implemented the cloud based EPLASS Drawing Management. To guarantee a transparent overview of the processes and a well-organized review process to a geographically dispersed team, the in 2005 already “cloud-based” EPLASS Drawing Management was used in the project Because of our cloud solution all processes were easily accessible from anywhere around the world and every project participant was able to have a quick and structured overview of their tasks as well all further required project documentation.