Acciona for €160 million hydroelectric works

The electricity company Iberdrola has selected a consortium made up of Acciona and two Portuguese companies, Mota Engil and Edivisa, to construct the Alto Tâmega dam and accompanying hydroelectric plant on the river Tâmega in Portugal.

The contract worth €110 million is in addition to a pre-existing €50 million contract for the construction of a penstock at Gouvães hydroelectric plant.

The Alto Tâmega dam will involve the building of a 106.5m high double-curvature concrete arch and a toe-of-dam hydroelectric plant comprising two 80MW units.

It will also include the construction of the plant’s water circuit and access tunnel, as well as river diversion works.

For the Gouvães penstock, a 4.7km concrete-lined tunnel measuring 7.3m in diameter will be dug from four points simultaneously.

Other works at Gouvães will include the creation of a water inlet structure in the Gouvães reservoir and a sluice structure, among other ancillary components.

Altogether, the works are part of the Tâmega River hydroelectric project, which is said to be one of the largest hydroelectric developments in Europe in recent years.

It includes the construction of three hydroelectric plants – Gouvães, Alto Tâmega and Daivões – which will have a combined power generation capacity of 1,158MW, enabling Iberdrola to produce more than 1,760GWh of electricity per year.