Traunfall Hydropower Plant

Traunfall Hydropower Plant

The Traun River and its riparian zones are part of the Natura 2000 European protected area. Precise planning, well-coordinated construction processes and an implementation designed to minimise impacts are therefore particularly important.

The concept is based on a powerhouse located away from the river: Instead of building directly in the river, construction is taking place in a dry excavation pit. The advantage is that the pressure tunnel leads to a deeply embedded powerhouse set back from the river. This facilitates construction and reduces impacts on ecologically valuable areas.

The project is being carried out as a joint venture with Felbermayr. At present, SWIETELSKY’s focus is on civil engineering and tunnelling works for the construction of the water conveyance routes and the weir system. SWIETELSKY will later reach another major milestone: the construction of the new powerhouse.

KW Traunfall Baugrube Richtung Oberwasserstollen (C)SwietelskyAG

600,000 metric tons of excavated material require precise coordination

Around 600,000 tonnes of material must be excavated for the powerhouse construction pit alone. This involves far more than simply operating excavators; it requires well-coordinated transport chains, temporary storage, quality assurance and material recovery.

Some of the material will remain within the project system: Suitable excavated material will be used for ecological compensation measures in the Traun, helping to create near-natural habitats in the future. The remaining material will be deposited or processed.

This phase depends above all on precise scheduling: advance excavation, material removal, structural work, logistics and safety must be coordinated so closely that subsequent trades can take over without delays or friction. For SWIETELSKY, this is a successful example of collaboration in practice.