Hochtief has won a EUR 132 million contract to build a 22.6km long tunnel for a new hydropower project in Austria.
The German firm won the order for work on the Gemeinschaftskraftwerk Inn hydropower project from a JV made up of Tiroler Wasserkraft AG, Engadiner Kraftwerke AG and Verbund AG. The tunnel project is the largest of three construction lots awarded for the hydro project, which is being built on the river Inn.
Expected to be complete in 2018, the tunnel will have a diameter of 6.5m and will run underground from the reservoir in Ovella to the powerhouse in Prutz. Hochtief said it will drive the pressure tunnel with two hard rock double-shield tunnel boring machines. The excavation material will be stored near the construction site in order to reduce site traffic to a necessary minimum. The tunnel will be lined with prefabricated concrete lining segments to be produced locally in a field factory.
