Strabag to build power plant tunnel

Strabag has been chosen to work in consortium with two other Austrian construction companies – Jäger Bau and G Hinteregger & Söhne Baugesellschaft – to build the remaining 19km of a 22km pressure flow tunnel at the Gemeinschaftskraftwerk Inn (GKI) power plant.

Taiwag, an Austrian electric utilities company that owns 76% of the hydroelectricity plant, has taken overall responsibility for the construction. The total investment from GKI has been estimated at €460 million.

Two tunnel-boring machines will be used to create the 6.5m diameter Maria Stein tunnel. Scheduled to be put into operation in 2020, the plant is planned to generate 400GWh of electricity – a significant contribution to Tyrol’s energy autonomy.