HYDROPOWER TUNNELLING

BUILDING
PATHWAYS
FOR POWER

Herrenknecht References
 Pioneering Underground Technologies.
When hydropower plants need to be built or
expanded, innovative Herrenknecht technology
is used in the construction of horizontal and
inclined tunnels or vertical shafts. Whatever
and wherever the project for large as well as
for small plants, this is done economically,
quickly, and safely. Herrenknecht tunnel boring
machines and shaft construction systems are
customized and adapted to specic projects,
for all diameters and all ground conditions.
Based on full range solutions, we offer our
customers integrated technology for building
modern tunnel systems precisely and reliably.
Exactly where they are needed.

08 Palomino hydropower station, Dominican Republic

10 Small hydropower plants, Brazil
12 Linthal 2015 extension project, Switzerland
14 Nant de Drance pumped-storage power plant, Switzerland

Steep mission:
A Herrenknecht TBM Cover photo:
excavates a headrace The Nant de Drance
tunnel with a gradient pumped-storage power
of 40 for the Limmern plant in Switzerland
power plant (Switzer- generates hydropower
land). p. 12 for peak demands. p. 14
HERRENKNECHT Hydropower Facts 45

Hydropower Tunnelling

km

km
km

km
km

km
More than

km
140
km

40

60
30

50
20

70
10
0
Gripper TBM
Double Shield TBM
Top technology and expertise
EPB Shield
AVN Machine
HDD Rig
worldwide ensure progress
Raise Boring Rig
Herrenknecht Hard Rock Machines, Shaft Sinking
kilometers of tunnels and galleries are excavated for hydropower plants with Herrenknecht machines. Systems, Earth Pressure Balance Shields, and Micro-
machines support the construction of efcient new
underground infrastructure for hydropower plants
worldwide. As part of the construction and extension
of hydropower plants, more than 140 kilometers of
horizontal or inclined galleries and vertical shafts have
been produced using innovative tunnelling technol-

50
ogy from Herrenknecht. Building upon this unique
expertise and experience, we are working closely
with our customers and develop tailor-made technical
solutions that overcome all challenges and create
40
robust, sustainable tunnel structures to budget and
on schedule, while maximizing safety for the people
CH and the environment.
n,
er
m
im
6 L As the worlds leading provider, Herrenknecht
.2
stands for:
30
40
vast experience and expertise
top technology of the highest quality
fully-customized, innovative solutions
smooth progress and expert troubleshooting
20 comprehensive service on- and off-site
close teamwork with all project partners
maximum reliability from start to nish
IT
o,
s tic
d A Hydropower, metro, railway, road, utility, pipeline,
al
6
V
.1 mining, and exploration: Herrenknechts references
29 10 include more than 3,100 completed projects around
the world. Our tunnelling technology helps to build
tunnels, pipelines, shafts, and production wells in all
types of ground with diameters ranging from 0.10 to
19 meters. Pioneering technology from Herrenknecht
6.34 Zillert
al , AT
2.75 Brenwerk, AT is creating the infrastructure to take people forward,
0
paving the way for progress.
km
km

km

km
km

km

0
5

5
0

3.
0.

1.

2.
1.

2.
- 90 Vianden, LU

Horizontal, vertical or inclined: Herrenknecht offers machines for the

construction of underground infrastructures, no matter in what direction.

Diameters: 203 mm 1,970 mm 3,830 mm 4,500 mm 5,200 mm

HERRENKNECHT Hydropower Jobsite Solutions 67

Hydropower Tunnelling
All Around jobsite solutions

Hydropower plants must be adapted to the topo-

graphical conditions, no matter how big or how small.
Herrenknecht tunnelling technology can be adapted
to the jobsite conditions and installed even under
extremely tight space constraints. The machines ex-
cavate horizontal and inclined galleries and vertical
shafts underground following a precise course and
exactly where they are needed. Our broad range of
additional equipment and services provides high-
performance tunnelling and high levels of safety for
site personnel, people, the infrastructure, and build-
ings. This includes all technical facilities which are
indispensable for efcient construction logistics, for
example, removal of excavated material or manufac-
turing of precision segments. DOUBLE SHIELD TBM (AS AN EXAMPLE)

Headrace tunnel
The Double Shield TBM is excavating the tube of an intake
tunnel. The machine achieves high advance rates in stable
rock thanks to continuous tunnelling and provides safe work-
ing conditions even in geological fault zones.

RAISE BORING RIG (AS AN EXAMPLE)

Pressure penstock
The Raise Boring Rig is drilling shafts with a depth reaching
2,000 m and diameters of up to 8 m. Thanks to the rigs modular
structure, only little space is needed.

GRIPPER TBM (AS AN EXAMPLE)

Service tunnel
A specially equipped Gripper TBM is tunnelling the service
gallery to the turbine cavern inside the mountain. A double
anti-reverse locking system and special developments in
logistics allow for gradients of up to 40 degrees.

You can nd more detailed information about Herrenknecht

technology, additional equipment, and services in our pocket
guide: Tunnelling Product Portfolio.
HERRENKNECHT Hydropower References 89

Palomino hydropower station

On a high-speed course in team alliance

The Dominican Republic relies on hydropower for en-
ergy generation, thus reducing dependency on expen-
sive imports of oil and gas. For the construction of the
Palomino hydropower plant, Herrenknecht delivered a
Double Shield TBM which excavated 12.4 kilometers
of tunnel at high speed, including an additional 1.2-kilo-
meter section originally planned as drill and blast.
Right from the beginning, the jobsite team showed
impressive performance with 250 meters of tunnel
excavated and lined with segments per week. The
Herrenknecht full range concept helps to achieve
such excellent performance thanks to the optimi-
zation of technical interfaces. For example, the tunnel
trains transported the excavated material of two bor-
ing strokes at the same time and delivered lining seg-
ments for two rings. This saves transportation time
which becomes longer during tunnelling operations.
The main advantage provided by the Double Shield
TBMs can be exploited to the full: Excavation and ring
construction are done simultaneously as a continu-
ous tunnel production process. Fault zones with soft
rock can be crossed safely in shielded mode.

PROJECT DATA MACHINE DATA PROJECT HIGHLIGHTS

Contractor: Double Shield TBM, S-494 Optimally interrelated processes

Construtora Norberto Odebrecht
S.A.
Tunnel length: 12,436 m
Geology: marl, sandstone,
limestone
Diameter: 4,500 mm on the jobsite provided for excellent
Cutterhead power: 1,400 kW advance rates of up to 53 m / day,
282 m / week, and 1,091 m / month,
GROUP PARTNERS INVOLVED and an average daily performance
of 30.59 m.
VMT
Navigation, monitoring, process data The Double Shield TBM is a sprinter
management in solid rock. It was able to advance
99.9 % of the entire tunnel length
Herrenknecht Formwork continuously, i.e. excavating and
Segment moulds, handling equipment positioning rings at the same time.

MSD
Rolling stock

Global Tunnelling Experts

21 members of staff / 10 job proles

PROJECT BACKGROUND PALOMINO, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC

Reliable power supply is an essen-

tial factor for economic development
in the Dominican Republic. Hydro-
power is to play an important role
in this. The Palomino power plant
Cordillera Central
is designed to render an output of
80 MW. This environmentally-
friendly power generation is to re- Rio Yaque
place 400,000 barrels (63 million del Sur
liters) of imported crude oil per year. Excellent performance:
Rio Blanco Rio del Medio Assembly of the TBM
headrace tunnel
TBM in the Cordillera Central
power mountain range on the
penstock houses
reservoir Caribbean island. The cus-
tomer used a wide range
of additional equipment
0 km 5 km 10 km 15 km
and the Herrenknecht job-
site service.
HERRENKNECHT Hydropower References 10 11

EXPERTISE
Small hydropower plants in Brazil HERRENKNECHT EQUIPMENT FROM
203 MM UP TO 12.4 M HAS
Compact, retractable TBM for poorly ALREADY BEEN USED FOR HYDRO-
POWER INFRASTRUCTURES.
accessible terrain
Small rivers in the forests of southern Brazil offer ide- up to 8 meters in length, which can be transported on
al conditions for small hydropower plants. At the standard trucks. The target of one 2.2-kilometer drive
same time they are inhospitable terrain for construc- with an incline of 4.3 percent is a steep slope. For the
tion work. For seven transfer tunnels with drive event that the machine could not be recovered in a
lengths between 280 and 3,000 meters and a maxi- target pit, the TBM was designed for retraction
mum gradient of 7 percent, Herrenknecht supplied a through the tunnel. For muck removal, the site crew
project-specic designed hard rock Gripper TBM with uses multi-service vehicles with muck containers
a boring diameter of 2.85 meters. The compact from the Herrenknecht subsidiary Techni- Mtal
machine design simplies the transport to the Systmes. With a width of only one meter, the vehi-
Accomplished: rst
jobsites as well as assembly and disassembly. The cles are particularly narrow and can also easily handle
breakthrough of the
49meter long TBM is equipped with ve back-ups of inclines and declines on the tunnelling routes. Gripper TBM in the
narrow valleys of
southern Brazil for
aseries of small
PROJECT DATA MACHINE DATA PROJECT HIGHLIGHTS hydropower plants.

Contractor: Gripper TBM, M-1848M The inhospitable terrain means

KM26 Caldeiraria e Madeireira
LTDA
Tunnel length: 280 m, 550 m,
750 m, 1,000 m, 1,560 m, 2,200 m,
3,000 m
Geology: rock
Diameter: 2,850 mm that the installation of equipment
Cutterhead power: 400 kW as well as the construction method
must be exible and environmen-
GROUP PARTNERS INVOLVED tally-friendly.
VMT Retractable TBM for tunnelling in an
Navigation escarpment
Techni-Mtal Systmes Curve radii up to 300 m, inclines of
Multi-service vehicles up to 7 %

Global Tunnelling Experts

4 members of staff / 3 job proles

PROJECT BACKGROUND RIO VERMELHO, BRAZIL

The small hydropower plants on

theRio Vermelho will each feed Curitiba
C uritiba
2 8.5 MW into the public electricity
grid in Brazil. Mechanically created
tunnels conduct the water directly Joinville
Joinville
to the turbine house. A small dam
isbuilt in front of each tunnel portal
Rio
R io Ve
V
Vermelho
ermelho
to dam up water. The entire river
water, however, must never be used
to generate electricity, on an annual
average no more than 55 %.

Parque
Parq
quue N
Natural
atural d
das
as A
Av
Aves
ves

Corupa
C orupa
Osvaldo
O svaldo A
Amaral
maral
HERRENKNECHT Hydropower References 12 13

Linthal 2015 extension project

A steep mission through hard rock
Aiming high: Every
single part needed for
construction of the
Drilling uphill at an angle of 40 degrees not a usual at least two are always active independently of each pressure tunnel must
mission for a tunnel boring machine. The Linthal 2015 other and in all operation modes (advance, standstill, be transported by
cable car to an altitude
extension project in Switzerland will increase the moving). They work mechanically using the principle
of 1,700 m.
capacity of the Limmern pumped-storage power of a self-locking toggle lever. This means that clamping
plant by 1,000 MW. The core part of the project is always works even in cases of a power cut. The rst
the construction of two penstocks with a length of breakthrough was celebrated following weekly per-
1,030 meters each, leading from the machine cavern formances of up to more than 130 meters in hard rock
to the valve chamber 600 meters higher up. In order and after successfully managing a disturbance zone.
to prevent the TBM from slipping down on the steep After that, the TBMs cutterhead was dismantled and
mountain route, the machine has an innovative safety the gantry was pulled back through the pressure shaft Safe in the mountain:
tunnel boring machine
concept including three clamping systems of which and made t for the second steep mission.
with three gripping
systems.

PROJECT DATA MACHINE DATA PROJECT HIGHLIGHTS

Contractor: Gripper TBM, S-575 When designing and dismantling

Marti Tunnelbau AG Diameter: 5,200 mm the machine in the Herrenknecht
Cutterhead power: 2,205 kW plant, it is important to ensure that
Tunnel length: 2 1,030 m the units are kept as compact as
GROUP PARTNERS INVOLVED possible. The maximum allowable
Geology: Quintner limestone weight per component is 37 t.
VMT
Navigation, monitoring The Gripper TBM mastered a
gradient of 40 (84.7 %) on its way
upwards.

The TBM weighing 800 t is always

safely braced in the mountain
using the double anti-reverse
locking system newly developed
by Herrenknecht even in cases
of a power cut.

PROJECT BACKGROUND LIMMERN, SWITZERLAND

Unlike run-of-the-river or mere

storage power stations, pumped-
Lake Mutt valve chamber
storage hydroelectric power plants
are able to convert excess power
occurring during off-peak periods
into valuable peak electricity. They
2,200m penstock
pump water up into the reservoir
located at a higher level and reuse TB
M
it later to generate power. They can 2,000m
use and supplement the irregular Lake Limmern
generation of renewable energy to
1,800m
ensure supply and grid stability.
power house cavern underwater tunnel
1,600m a.s.l.
www.argekwl.ch,
www.axpo.com/axpo/ch/en/
0.5km 1km 1.5 km 2km
about-us/production-facilities/
hydro-energy/linthal.html
HERRENKNECHT Hydropower References 14 15

Nant de Drance
pumped-storage power plant
Underway in all directions
The power plant technology for the Swiss pumped-
storage power plant Nant de Drance is being installed
underground. A Herrenknecht Gripper TBM drove the
5.6 kilometer long access tunnel 5 . Following suc-
cessful previous projects, the hard rock TBM was
specially modied for this jobsite. The back-up sys-
tem, which serves to supply the actual tunnelling
unit, is adapted to the tunnel incline, for example. The
tunnel boring machine has to deal with a gradient of
up to 12 percent and curve radii of 500 meters. Disturb-
ance zones are explored by systematic pre-drillings.
In areas with very high water pressures, the rock to be
bored through is stabilized with concrete injections.
Two vertical pressure shafts, the penstocks 2 , con-
nect the Vieux Emosson reservoir 1 with the power
house cavern 3 inside the Alps. The Herrenknecht
Raise Boring Rig (RBR) drilled vertically downwards,
and in the next working step, the pilot borehole was
reamed to a diameter of 2.44 meters. Subsequently
the borehole was enlarged to 8 meters using a Shaft
Drilling Jumbo (SDJ).

PROJECT DATA MACHINE DATA PROJECT HIGHLIGHTS

Contractor: Gripper TBM, S-522 The Herrenknecht Gripper TBM,

TBM: Marti Tunnelbau AG
RBR: Marti Contractors Ltd.
Shaft Drilling Jumbo: stu-
Stettin Hoch- und Tiefbau GmbH
Tunnel length: 5,600 m, 2 424 m
Geology: gneiss, graywacke,
granite
Diameter: 9,450 mm
Cutterhead power: 3,500 kW
Raise Boring Rig (RBR), MI-005
Installed power: 600 kW
Diameter drilled: 2,440 mm
Shaft Drilling Jumbo (SDJ), MI-009
Conguration: 3 booms
Diameter drilled: 8,000 mm
GROUP PARTNERS INVOLVED
which was specially adapted
to the project, proved its worth,
dealing with a gradient of 12 %
and curve radii of 500 m.
For vertical pressure shafts, the
Herrenknecht Raise Boring Rig pro-
duced a pilot hole with a diameter
of 2.44 m in two working steps
with top daily performances of
62 m when pre-drilling and 33 m
when reaming backwards.

VMT With a Herrenknecht Shaft Drilling

Navigation, monitoring Jumbo, the penstocks were
enlarged to a diameter of 8 m.

PROJECT BACKGROUND NANT DE DRANCE, SWITZERLAND

The plant uses the difference in ele- For the benet of

vation between the Vieux Emosson nature: The under-
1 and Emosson 4 reservoirs. The ground infrastructure
closed circuit between the two res- 1 of the Nant de Drance
ervoirs does not have any inuence pumped-storage power
Vieux
on natural water courses. Since the Emosson plant only has a low
power house 3 is underground, reservoir intake/outtake structure impact on nature and
impact on the environment is low. the environment.
The plant is designed to render Herrenknecht technol-
2 penstocks 4 Emosson
SDJ

900 MW of turbine and pump output. ogy makes this possi-

The power can be made available 2,000m reservoir
access gallery ble. The closed circuit
within 2 minutes. This is important from Emosson between the two reser-
RBR

for Swiss Railways: In the morning, 1,800m voirs does not have any
when locomotives start almost si- underwater tunnel inuence on natural
multaneously in the country, they TBM water courses.
1,600m a.s.l.
need several 100 MW. 3 power house cavern
5 access tunnel
www.nant-de-drance.ch
HERRENKNECHT Hydropower References 16 17

Connection to the
machine cavern:
TheRaise Boring Rig

Nant de Drance by Herrenknecht is

sinking two pressure
shafts. The drilling

pumped-storage power plant operations are

remote-controlled
from a control cabin.

Herrenknecht technology for vertical shafts

Penstocks, the pressure tunnels for hydropower
plants, run vertically or on a downward slope. The ap-
propriate machine system for building such galleries
can be chosen from the Herrenknecht range accord-
ing to the project conditions. In Nant de Drance, two
connecting shafts are being built between two cav-
erns located one above the other. In this operation,
the modularly designed Raise Boring Rig that can be
quickly installed and easily removed was used.
The rig made a vertical downward pilot drill with a
diameter of around 300 millimeters down from the
upper cavern. In the lower cavern, the drill bit was
replaced with a reamer which enlarges the borehole
as it is pulled back up. Then the shaft diameter was en-
larged to 8 meters using a Shaft Drilling Jumbo.

Safe pipe handling: In

Raise Boring Rigs, the
supply and removal of
drilling rods at the
borehole is carried out
by a hydraulic gripper
arm known as the pipe
handler. This reduces
physically strenuous
work and provides for
a high level of work
safety.

Flexible drilling: The

Shaft Drilling Jumbo
is able to produce
shafts with a diameter
of up to 12 m with
varying drill patterns.
HERRENKNECHT Hydropower Worldwide 18 19

EUROPE
Glendoe, Great Britain

Hydropower Tunnelling Vianden, Luxembourg

Nant de Drance, Switzerland ( p. 14)

Herrenknecht tunnelling technology Nant de Drance, Switzerland ( p. 14)

at work around the world Glarus, Switzerland

Limmern, Switzerland ( p. 12)

Ziller Valley, Austria

Brenwerk, Austria

Chute de Gavet, France

Val dAstico, Italy

Corsica, France

Ruivaes Vieira do Minho, Portugal

Mtkvari / Akhaltsikhe, Georgia

Uluabat, Turkey

Doganay, Turkey

ASIA / OCEANIA
Jinping, China

Nabang, China

Pangduo, China

Tapovan, India

Neelum Jhelum, Pakistan

Lambadug, India

Dehgolan, Iran

Uma Oya, Sri Lanka

Bogong, Australia

AMERICA
Gilbao, United States of America
A selection of hydropower tunnels
and shafts. Further Herrenknecht Palomino, Dominican Republic ( p. 08)
references can be found online:
Rio Vermelho, Brazil ( p. 10)
www.herrenknecht.com/references
Pando Monte Lirio, Panama

Coca Codo Sinclair, Ecuador

Alto Maipo, Chile

MACHINE TYPES DIAMETER RANGE

AVN / AVND Double Shield TBM Shaft Drilling Jumbo 0.2 5 m 5 10 m 10 15 m

EPB Shield Gripper TBM
Tunnel length in kilometers: 0 5 10 15 20 25
HDD Rig Raise Boring Rig
HERRENKNECHT Hydropower Portfolio 20 21

Product Portfolio
Tunnelling technology for all geologies
and all diameters
Herrenknecht is the only provider of a complete range When selecting the optimum machine method, not
of tunnelling technology in terms of both diameters only geological or hydrogeological conditions of the
and geology. Each Herrenknecht machine type is rec- ground play a role, but also other project parameters
ommended for a specic range of ground conditions. may be important.

Gripper TBM Double

D oub le S
Shield
hie l d T
TBM
BM Single
S ingle
e Sh
S
Shield
hie l d T
TBM
BM
12.5 m 12.5 m 14 m
2m 2.8 m 1.5 m

EPB Shield Mixshield

M ixsh
s hie l d
shi AVN
AV
AVN Machine
M ac hine
Mach
16 m 19 m 4.2 m
1.7 m 4.2 m 0.4 m

A selection of tunnel-
ling technology.

Vertical Shaft Sinking Further Herrenknecht

Multi-mode TBM Raise Boring Rig (RBR) Machine VSM products can be
19 m 16 m found online:
2.4 m 0.3 m 8m 4.5 m
www.herrenknecht.
com/en/products

You can nd more

detailed information
Shaft Sinking Systems about Herrenknecht
tunnelling tech-
There is a range of methods and nology, additional
machine technologies available to equipment, and
HDD
H DD Rig
Rig
Ri Shaft
S ha f t D
Drilling
ri l l i ng J
Jumbo
umb o sink shafts down to a depth of more services in our pocket
2m 12 m than 2,000 m or to drive short verti- guide: Tunnelling
0.1 m 4m
cal upward sections. Product Portfolio.
HERRENKNECHT Hydropower Company

The Herrenknecht Group

Cutting-edge technology and an alliance of
specialists to make your project a success
Herrenknecht is a professionally positioned and inter-
nationally oriented family enterprise. As global market
leader, we provide a comprehensive range of tunnel-
ling technology, additional equipment, and services.
Herrenknechts innovative and customizable tunnel-
ling technology can be used for all ground conditions
and diameters, and in all areas of application from
supply and disposal lines to large trafc tunnels. In
addition, we offer innovative technical solutions
to successfully excavate inclined shafts and sink
vertical shafts down to great depths, for example in
mining for reaching new underground raw material
deposits. We constantly align our geographical pres-
ence and our product and service portfolio to the
needs of our customers and the market. We have a
network of more than 75 subsidiaries and associated
companies available worldwide. The Herrenknecht
Group employs around 5,000 people globally and is
preparing for the future with over 150 apprentices and
trainees.

H+E
LOGISTIK
Conveying Systems
www.helogistik.de Headquarters in
Schwanau: Shortly
after the company was
founded in 1977 by
Dr.-Ing. E. h. Martin
HERRENKNECHT Herrenknecht,
VMT FORMWORK Schwanau became
the companys head-
Navigation, Monitoring and Segment Production Systems quarters. To date, this
Process Data Management www.herrenknecht-formwork.com is the main location
www.vmt-gmbh.de accommodating
design, component
manufacturing and
assembly facilities.
MASCHINEN-
UND STAHLBAU EUROFORM
Active worldwide:
DRESDEN
Subsidiaries and
Rolling Stock Systems Tunnelling Formwork Equipment representations on all
www.msd-dresden.com www.euroformsrl.com continents ensure that
Herrenknecht is always
close to its customers.
Herrenknecht has
around 15 manufac-
GLOBAL
TECHNI-MTAL TUNNELLING
turing and assembly
SYSTMES EXPERTS sites for tunnel boring
machines and addi-
Multi-service Vehicles Jobsite Personnel tional equipment
www.tms-company.com www.global-tunnelling-experts.com worldwide, among
them assembly
factories in China
Group partners providing additional equipment and technical services ensure (2 Guangzhou,
integrated solutions and top performance on hydropower plant jobsites. Chengdu) and India.
HERRENKNECHT Hydropower Experts
Experts
Minimally invasive use with great
effect on the environment
Do you know which electricity mix comes out
of your socket?
Since I have a green provider, in principle for me
that's 100 percent green power. If I look at the Ger-
man electricity offering in 2015 overall, however, the
share of renewables is only one third. Coal still makes
up for more than 40 percent. Globally, renewables ac-
tually only contribute 22 percent to the electricity mix.
It won't stay that way. In 2040 the International
Energy Agency (IEA) estimates the production
of electricity from renewables will be 8,300 ter-
rawatt hours higher than today. That corresponds
to what the EU, the USA and China are currently
HYDROPOWER IS still generating from fossil fuels.
OF PARTICULAR Of course, renewables will remain a boom sector in
IMPORTANCE TO THE the coming decades. The development in China is
ENERGY TRANSITION. particularly impressive there you can see where we
are headed. New plants are being built there faster
than they can be connected to the grid. For wind and
Prof. Dr. Martin Jnicke solar energy, within ten years the Chinese govern-
ment has repeatedly revised its targets upward for
Senior Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Sustainability
Studies (IASS), Potsdam 2020, rising by multiples. The energy transition, i.e.
the decoupling of energy consumption and CO2
emissions, has been faster than expected in many
Martin Jnicke has worked for 40 years as a political scientist countries. The share of coal in the global electricity
at the interface between science, policy advice and active
mix is expected to fall by 2040 from a good 40 per-
politics From 1974 to 1976 he advised the Federal
Chancellery and he was a member of the Berlin House of cent to about 30 percent, correspondingly increasing
Representatives In 1984 he introduced the concept of the share of renewables.
ecological modernization to the scientic discussion
From 1986 to 2007 Jnicke was Director of what is now the What is the contribution of hydropower to the
Environmental Policy Research Center at the Free University
energy transition?
of Berlin From 2003 to 2013 he was a member of the
Executive Committee of the German Federal Environmental It is of particular importance. It is inexpensive and, un-
Foundation and from 2011 to 2013 a member of the Federal like wind and solar power plants, provides power reli-
Parliament Commission of Inquiry Growth, prosperity, ably. It can also offset their uctuating power supply.
quality of life In 2004 and from 2011 to 2012 he advised Countries with a high proportion of hydropower are
the Chinese government He has contributed to several
therefore in a comfortable position. In Austria and
publications of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
IPCC Jnicke is also author of the book Megatrend Switzerland the share of hydropower in the electricity
Environmental Innovation. On the Ecological Modernization mix is well above 50 percent. Norway even covers its
of the Economy and the State, published by Oekom-Verlag power requirements almost entirely with hydroelec-
in 2008 Since 2013 he has been a member of the ITA tric plants. According to calculations by the IEA, in
Advisory Board of the Federal Ministry ofEducation and
2040 the relative proportion of hydroelectric power in
Research and since 2013 he is Senior Fellow attheIASS.
the electricity mix will hardly be higher than today; in
absolute terms, however, that is an increase of 70per-
cent because these are the dimensions in which
global electricity consumption is likely to increase.
www.iass-potsdam.de/en/people/prof-dr-martin-jaenicke
24 25
Which countries and regions have the greatest
future potential for hydropower?
In Europe and North America, if you include plants
under construction, for the most part the resources
are already developed. It's a different situation in
Russia, China, Africa, and South America where there
is still very considerable potential for growth. An im-
pressive example is Ethiopia, which is already export-
ing hydropower to neighboring countries. Next to the
Congo, the country has the largest hydropower re-
sources in Africa, and in recent years they are being
developed on a large scale. With the amount of elec-
tricity that can be produced on the Blue Nile, the Omo
and other rivers, supplemented mainly by wind pow-
er, in just a few years Ethiopia will rise to be Africa's
largest exporter of electricity.
What kind of hydropower plants will have the
strongest growth worldwide?
River power plants, i.e. those that are integrated into
running water and can constantly produce electricity.
But the importance of pumped-storage power plants,
which pump water as a potential energy reserve to
reservoirs located higher, will continue to increase
globally. They are useful as green batteries that are
able to compensate for the typical uctuations in the
production of wind and solar power. This compensat-
ing energy is particularly interesting economically be-
cause it often achieves higher electricity prices.
What challenges do you see in the development
of hydropower?
Compared to conventional energy sources i.e. coal,
gas, nuclear power it is relatively unproblematic. It
makes a carbon-neutral contribution to energy securi-
ty, without incalculable long-term consequences as in
the case of nuclear power plants. Nevertheless, hy-
dropower may conict with concerns of local resi-
dents or environmental considerations. Dams are
always a signicant intervention in the regional ora
and fauna. Or consider the relocation of entire cities
for the Three Gorges Dam in China. As for ecological
compatibility, in the past few years there has denitely
been progress, such as sh-friendly turbines or sh
ladders. And with pumped-storage power plants,
the encroachment on the landscape can be reduced
by the minimally invasive use of tunnel boring
machines and laying pipe systems underground.
HERRENKNECHT Hydropower Trends

Trends
Energy generation from hydropower
is advancing worldwide

Electricity from hydropower is a forward-looking perspective in many countries.

The potential is available.

Technical potential
Power generated
1,227
900 (share in %)
569 (63 %) 439 (36 %)
7,190

4,000 1,400
782 (11 %)
59 (4 %)

283
Figures 390 (10 %)
provided in 39 (14 %)
bn kWh per
continent
and year

An increasing share in the energy mix: Hydropower is constantly available, provides for
independency from fossil energy sources, and reduces CO2 emissions.

6 7 15 Hydropower
2 6
5 Other renewable energy
6
31 19
28 sources, including
geothermal energy
15 Nuclear power
Coal
24
25
37 Gas
Oil

32
28

Share of 13
energy
sources
in % 1

Successful break-
*

ca e
*

30

re iv

through by the Herren-

11

st
fo at
20
20

**
rn

knecht Gripper TBM

30
te
20

al

for the 40 headrace

tunnel at the Limmern
power plant (Switzer-
Sources: www.energieinfo.lu 2013, * BP Statistical Review of World Energy 2012, ** McKinsey 2012 land). p. 12
 Pioneering Underground Technologies
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