A consortium of Spain’s Acciona and Portuguese companies Mota Engil and Edivisa (Visabeira Group) has been contracted by Iberdrola to build the Alto Tâmega dam and hydroelectric plant on the river Tâmega, near Oporto, Portugal.
The contract, amounting to around EUR 110 million, is in addition to the pre-existing EUR 50 million euro contract for the construction of the penstock at the Gouvães hydroelectric plant.
Both projects form part of the Tâmega River project, one of the largest hydroelectric developments in Europe in recent years, which also includes the Daivões hydroelectric plant.
The plants will have a combined power generation capacity of 1158MW, enabling Iberdrola to produce more than 1760GWh of electricity per year.
The Alto Tâmega project will involve the construction of a 106.5m high double-curvature concrete arch dam, plus the toe-of-dam hydroelectric plant, comprising two 80MW units, as well as river diversion works and access tunnel.
The Gouvães penstock, a 4.7km concrete-lined tunnel 7.3m in diameter, will be dug from four points simultaneously. Other work includes the water inlet structure in the Gouvães reservoir on the Torno River, the sluice structure and other ancillary components.
