Iberdrola presents the Támega hydroelectric power project in Portugal, a project carried out by a UTE led by Ferrovial Agroman.
In February of this year,
Iberdrola presented the ambitious project it is building in Portugal having awarded the contracts for the four large infrastructures it entails, including two dams (Daivoes and Alto
Támega), a cavern for the hydroelectric power plant (
Gouvaes power station) and the penstock supplying water to the plant.
This investment in the upper reaches of the Támega river is one of the largest initiatives in the hydroelectric energy sector ever to be carried out in Portugal, and one of the largest projects in Europe in the last 25 years.
The presentation was attended by
Ferrovial Agroman’s
Juan Lozano, Director of Civil Works for Spain and Portugal;
Juan Manuel Sánchez, Director for Portugal and Civil Works in Madrid and Castilla La Mancha; and Alejandro Soliño, General Manager for Portugal, amongst others.
The hydroelectric power project in Portugal
The Támega complex is located in the hills around the Támega river, close to Vila Real, in the north of Portugal. The project aims to use the river course, which runs over
145 km, for generating electricity, with a total installed capacity of
1,158 MW and an output of
1.800 GWh, equivalent to the consumption by the cities of Braga, Guimaraes and other population centres close to the site.
To achieve this output capacity, the project envisages the building of the
Daivoes dam (with an installed capacity of 118 MW), the
Alto Támega dam (installed capacity of 160 MW) and the Gouvaes cavern plant (with an installed capacity of 880 MW) which will also allow water to be pumped to the future Gouvaes reservoir (not yet awarded). Construction of two of these projects, representing 86.18% of total installed capacity, has been awarded to a consortium led by Ferrovial Agroman.
The consortium will be responsible for the construction of the Daivoes plant, a dam
78 metres high by 256 in length housing two 59 MW turbines; and a cavern for the Gouvaes plant which will house four reversible 220MV generators, thus creating the largest of all generating stations within the Alto Támega project.
Using the f
our Gouvaes reversible generators, water will be pumped from the Támega river to the future Gouvaes dam, this being the most efficient way of storing energy, to be released when required. The capacity of water stored in this dam alone, when forced down to the central power plant, would be enough to
provide electrical energy within the Oporto metropolitan area over 24 hours.
The role of Ferrovial Agroman in the project
In May 2016 Iberdrola awarded a contract for construction of the Daivoes dam, worth 92.2 million euros, to the consortium led by Ferrovial Agroman. The dam will be 77.5 metres high and house two generators contributing to a total installed capacity of 118 MV and an output capacity of 142 GWh.
In September 2016 Iberdrola awarded this same consortium the civil engineering contract for construction of the Gouvaes hydroelectric power plant, worth 79.2 million euros, comprising construction of an underground cavern with a total installed capacity of 880 MW (four 220 MW generators), using a drop of 675 m.
Prior to these two awards, the consortium led by Ferrovial Agroman was selected for building the access tunnel to the Gouvaes power plant, with a length of
700 metres, and the access galleries to the plant’s various caverns and pipelines.
Ferrovial Agroman has extensive experience in this type of projects, one of the most significant being the
Los Cóndores hydroelectric plant in Chile, and the tunnels for the
Ituango hydroelectric plant in Colombia.
