Author(s): Franco Garzon; Paolo Mazzalai
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Abstract: We designed a hydroelectric power plant on Lake Garda (Northern Italy, 370 km2, 65 m asl). The plant has an average power of 1570 MW and operates on a leap of 1580 m and a discharge of 100 m3/s. The water of the lake will be pumped at an upper-level during the night (causing only a 4 mm subsidence of the whole surface) and stored in 16 km of tunnels with a diameter of more than 10 meters, dug under the top of Mount Altissimo (2080 m asl) with TBM (Tunnel Boring Machine). All works will be carried out underground, with special and complex devices, since Mount Altissimo is a Site of Community Importance and all the area has high tourist value. The energy production during one day is 5. 5 million kW h, and the annual one is more than one billion kW h. The fact of having at our disposal such huge amount of energy during the hours of maximum consumption turns out to be strategic both on a national scale and, to a lesser extent, on a European scale. Moreover, this is the first hydroelectric plant in the world in which the top tank is realized by means of long tunnels excavated with TBM. The cost of the plant is over one billion Euros. This paper illustrates how the enormous design challenges have been overcome, while maintaining minimum impact on the entire habitat of Lake Garda and Mount Altissimo.
Year: 2010