Existing resources,
new power
The new Imst-Haiming power plant uses only water that has already been used before to generate energy at the Imst power plant. This means that no additional water needs to be taken from the Inn river and no new transverse structures need to be built.
The water is transported and processed via a subterranean headrace tunnel running through the mountain and a power plant cavern. This preserves the landscape and allows the project to blend into its surroundings in a particularly nature-friendly way.
can be generated annually.
Project details
Take a virtual flight to explore the entire project area from Imsterberg to Haiming. In Haiming, the mountain opens up and offers you a deep insight into the planned cavern power plant and tunnel system.
through the additional energy generation.
Inside the Haiming power plant
Beside the actual power plant cavern and portal structure, the cavern system of the Haiming power plant comprises a multitude of tunnels. The water coming from the Imst power plant is fed via an approximately 14-kilometre-long headrace tunnel to the Haiming plant, where it is first directed into the valve chamber. In this chamber, the water inflow to the turbines can be interrupted by opening or closing a large gate valve.
The power plant inside the mountain
The power plant’s machine cavern consists of the machine hall and the operating rooms. The machine room houses two powerful machine sets. The plant was designed with future expansion in mind so that a third machine can be easily integrated without major structural work if required.
The power plant operates fully automatically during normal operation and therefore does not require permanent staffing. The power plant is remotely controlled by the central control centre in Silz, to which all relevant plant data and measured values are also transmitted.
The machine set
Machine sets are used to convert the valuable energy of the water into electrical energy. These machine sets consist of a generator, a turbine and a machine shaft. Two of these machine sets are being installed in the Haiming cavern. At full load, up to 85 m³ of water per second flows from the intake structure through the headrace tunnel and the two machine sets, generating 252 million kWh of renewable electricity per year.
The connection channel
In the future, water discharged from the existing Imst plant will flow directly into a new operating basin. From there, it will flow via a special intake structure and the headrace tunnel to Haiming. The existing underwater channel will be blocked off by an adjustable closure structure so that, if necessary, the flow in the Inn river near Imst can be improved for rafting operations. This will ensure that the gorge in Imst can continue to be used by rafters in the future.
The headrace tunnel
The new waterway carries the water underground through a pressure tunnel to the power station, where it is used to generate electricity. Depending on the terrain and geology, both conventional blasting and tunnel boring machines are being used to construct the approximately 14-kilometre-long tunnel. Just east of Imst railway station, the headrace tunnel crosses the Inn river about 15 metres below the riverbed.
