Mark Summerfield - Burnley College
We had a slightly disappointing start to the day, having only been allowed access to the information centre at the Goldisthal pumped energy storage hydro plant, apparently it is necessary to book ahead to view the turbine hall and speak to the information officers since it is a popular attraction with school parties. It was also difficult access to view the reservoir which feeds the system.
A very good lunch made up for the disappointing start, with a lot of good discussion within the group which identified potential opportunities for the college in related fields.
We then visited the nearby construction site for the high speed rail link, this was a unique opportunity to see a 10 Billion euro project whilst it is still in progress. The Thuringen section of the railway will cost around 3 billion euro, 50% of which is spent on the construction and the remainder is spent on track, signalling power, landscaping etc. The scale and accuracy required for the high speed trains is staggering. Our guide, Helmut, was an architect who had worked in Ireland, so his English was very good, and his enthusiasm for the project was infectious. All in all it was agreed that the visit had been very worthwhile.
Muhammad Yousuf - Dan & Adam
Although the mountainous artificial 'loch' used for pump storage reminded of my native Scotland, the facility of 1.06GW is at a scale that is beyond the one similar scheme there. The benefits of hydroelectric power are well-known for their environmentally friendly outcomes if deployed appropriately. The environmental impact has been carefully designed within the scheme.
The village of Goldistahl is also along the route of a 10 billion euro project for a high speed rail link connecting the east of Germany directly with the south. 22 Tunnels and 27 bridges are being constructed. The majority of the tunnels and the highest element of the cost will be spent o nthe third of the route going through the Thuringen forest. Herman, our well informed, well-spoken and genuinely empathetic Deutsche Bahn Customer Relations Manager took us on a guided tour of some of the construction sites of bridges and tunnels of this magnificent engineering feats where hundreds of individuals are showing German engineering to the world. We were appropriately dressed for the occasion by our hosts in orange flak jackets, hard hats (with flashing 'head' lights) and yellow 'wellies'.
It was genuinely exciting seeing the fantastic engineering feats being conducted to deliver very detailed, innovative and demanding specifications of Deutsche Bahn where resilience, security and access to the bridges and tunnels must be maintained for all eventualities and allow the trains to operate without interruptions. The design of the tunnels, the innovative design of the concrete cast tracks, the handcraft involved in tailoring the frames for the concrete setting, the 1mm tolerance of the railtrack concrete blocks, the single span nature of some of the bridges, the bespoke bridge and tunnel designs, the materials efficiency, the environmental landscaping through the waste materials are only some of the factors of consideration to note.
Rowan Langley - Funky Renewables
A day to view to large scale projects, in construction or recently built. First off a Pumped Storage Power station then the high speed railway presently under construction.
The pumped storage installation is entirely a storage driven station, with negligible catchment as far as energy production is concerned. feeding the upper reservoir which is constructed more or less on above the summit line of the ridge of the hills. It ooerates in the usual manner of such installations absorbing excess generation overnight from Base load stations running on coal of nuclear where a daily shut down and startup is not feasible, and releasing the energy (less eficiency losses from the pumping and generation operations) to cover the daily peak periods.
The railway construction site we viewed in the afternoon is the culmination of a20 year planning period for high speed rail links generally and a special focus on the former DDR where post WW2 transport investment had been East West while the demand post re-unification has been for North South Links, leading to overloading of both road and rail routes through the centre. Once completed the route (line speed around 160mph ) offered journey times comparable with air travel with the train offering much greater passenger capacity in one movement, lower overall energy requirements, and a requirement which could come from electricity rather than oil.
We were appreciative guests of the Deutsche-Bahn information centre in the village on the route, and were shown the works by an enthusiastic architect employed by DB to maintain good relations between the construction operations and local residents and present the whole project to visitors.
The line chosen is not the optimum line for a Munchen – Berlin high speed railway; that would have repeated the situation of many UK trunk rail lines failing to serve significant intermediate towns. The political system in Germany appears to grant greater influence to more local and regional politics over such major works, and the line eventually chosen serves a number of important regional centres. The influence is also apparent in the way the line has been engineered. While for most of the hills a summit cutting is a feasible (and inexpensive) option, this was not deemed acceptable politically in an areas of such natural beauty, and summits are crossed by a series of tunnels, while valleys are crossed by bridges rather than embankments. Spoil from the tunnels which might have been disposed of by way of creating embankments instead is used to rasie and sculpt the hilltops into pasture land.
The arch bridge had been chosen as the standard structure for bridges after tests simulating the imposed load of a train on the bridge making an emergency brake application from full line speed. The arch was found to distribute the vertical and significant longitudinal stresses through the structure in the best manner. Ne structure we viewed close to completion is a new development. By use of thin vertical members, and the means of joining the cast sections, the structure has been designed to accommodate expansion and contraction without use o any bearings, hinges or expansion joints. The concrete sections flex in a controlled manner to absorb any bridge movements. The design was not only an elegant structure but made a significant savings in material costs.
The majority of the structures appeared to be more conventional box girder construvtions, the deck being a cantilever from a central box girder spine supported by concrete upright from the main arch. Access was created to the internal spaces in all the uprights, arch and deck for inspection and repairs, and all services connected with power, signals and telecommunications used the deck box girder, allowing access to such services in safety while trains were running.
As part of the same safety case, the tunnels are built to generous dimensions giving generous overhead clearance for overhead line, and a cess which appears wide enough to accommodate a vehicle. The cess incorporates generous provision of ducts for lineside wiring and ducts to the trackbed and to the tunnel wall.
We felt very privileged to be given access to the site and and to see some of the work close to. Our guide spoke extremely highly of the the workforce, and in particular of the foremen who would take the engineers drawings in two dimensions and direct there teams to create the whole three dimensional structure. The principle are in fact mediaeval. First a frame or scaffold, then the carpenters build the shuttering and formwork and only at this point do the modern materials of steel and concrete come into play, but here again the principles are even older. The Romans built in mass concrete, while wattle and daub is a composite material not unlike concrete and steel reinforcement.
Claire Chapman - Scottish Water
This morning we drove for an hour east, very close to the Czech border, where we paid a visit to the Goldisthal Vattenfall pump storage system. This was commissioned in 2003, and has a capacity of 1060 MW from four Francis pump turbines, with an average annual output of 8 500 MWh. I was interested to see that the site had capitalised on an existing lower reservoir, so only had to install the upper one. We walked up to the edge of the dam wall of the top reservoir, to admire the view, on this glorious autumnal day, with the Turingin forests stretching in every direction. There is a drop of 234 m to the lower reservoir, and a 100 m3/s flow.
We ate lunch at a local bistro, which served local trout (always with kartoffel / potatoes it seems!), and then visited the most incredible construction project – a €10 billion high speed rail European Transport project, due to be completed in 2015. The scale of it was mind-blowing; just in this Turingia section (a cool €3 million) a total of 29 bridges and 22 tunnels are being built. We visited an excellent information centre and then a very well-spoken Herr Kramer got us to kit up and drove us up to some of the bridges to inspect them. Because the area is so mountainous and forested, the bridges and tunnels are very necessary, and they have been able to pioneer a new style of bridge, which is built as a single unit (i.e. no gaps between the concrete) – apparently saving a large amount of raw materials. The typical bridge height was 60 m, and would be a bungi-jumper’s dream. I wrote down another random statistic: they are using 1 000 m3 of concrete every day! The construction area was a model site, in such a sensitive and beautiful environment, it was spotless and yet again, an impressive display of Germany engineering skills at their best.
Tonight we got back too late to go for a run, which is perhaps just as well, after last night’s efforts. Hopefully there will be time for some exercise tomorrow.
Damien Tow - Brighton Energy Co-op
An interesting day with a 1 hour drive to the highest point of the Thuringien forest near to the Czech border. Here there is the largest pumped storage plant in Germany and one of the newest in Europe. We took advantage of the displays in the visitor centre to understand the history and construction of the upper and lower lakes and the pipelines linking them, and then drove up to the upper lake to view its somewhat unusual construction. Effectively it is a large basin built up on the top of an 850m high hill, rather like an enormous ‘bird bath’. When the grid has excess electricity it pumps water up to this lake and the water is released, and spins turbines immediately, when there is a power shortage.
After a delicious lunch of local trout we took a tour of the construction of the latest link in Germany’s low carbon travel infrastructure, the high speed rail link which will join Berlin and Munich, and Italy beyond. This section rises up to 650m above sea level and constitutes a series of bridges and tunnels to cross the hill Thuringien Wald terrain. An unusual opportunity to see such a large scale infrastructure development at first hand and I look forward to the chance to travel the line one day!
