immo!nvest – Die Plattform für Standorte und Immobilien

Tag: Autobahn

  • Consortium brings solar folding roofs to motorway rest areas

    Consortium brings solar folding roofs to motorway rest areas

    The electricity producer Aventron from Münchenstein, BG Ingenieure und Berater from Lausanne, Cargo sous terrain(CST) from Basel and dhp technology from Zizers have founded the consortium ABCD-Horizon to install photovoltaic systems along motorways.

    According to a media release, innovative photovoltaic systems will generate electricity at 45 motorway rest areas “in French-speaking Switzerland and the cantons of Valais and Bern”. This electricity will primarily be used for charging infrastructure along the motorways. The total output of the systems is said to be up to 35 megawatts. This amount could supply around 7800 households with an average annual electricity consumption of 4500 kilowatt hours.

    The impetus for solar power production on unused areas of motorway service areas and noise barriers came from the Federal Roads Office(FEDRO), according to the press release. In a national tender, the Horizon folding solar roof from dhb Technology was awarded the contract for all motorway service stations in the French-speaking region of Switzerland and in the cantons of Valais and Bern.

    The energy generated will reportedly be stored in existing charging points and batteries. The buyers of the surplus electricity are Aventron’s three main shareholders: Primeo Energie, Stadtwerke Winterthur and ewb, as well as CST, which also belongs to ABCD-Horizon.

    According to the company, the Horizon folding solar roof is characterised by “an aesthetic lightweight construction with a rope-based support structure concept and a patented folding mechanism”. This allows for wide column spacing and great heights of up to 6 metres above the ground. It also has a weather algorithm so that energy can be generated even in winter. The construction phase is planned from 2024 to 2027.

  • Implenia is leading the construction of the Ligerz Tunnel

    Implenia is leading the construction of the Ligerz Tunnel

    The IBD consortium has been awarded the contract by SBB to build the Ligerz tunnel, Implenia announced in a press release. The construction and real estate company from Opfikon is the leader of the IBD consortium. In addition to Implenia, the consortium includes the construction companies Bernasconi from Luterbach SO and De Luca from Biel BE.

    The contract includes the construction of a 2.1-kilometre-long double-track tunnel with four escape tunnels and a 114-metre-long viaduct for the N5 motorway exit, as well as various additional structures. The contract is worth a total of 220 million Swiss francs. Around CHF 150 million of this is Implenia’s share.

    The contract is Lot 2 of the Ligerz-Twann double-track extension, which is intended to eliminate the rail bottleneck on the Jura river line between Lausanne and Biel. The Zurich-based construction and real estate company is deploying its experts from the fields of civil, tunnelling, special civil engineering, structural engineering, railway engineering and maritime work for the project. “We are looking forward to executing this large and complex railway infrastructure project together with our ARGE partners and to once again demonstrating our many years of experience and expertise in this field,” Christian Späth, Head Division Civil Engineering at Implenia, is quoted as saying in the press release. The location of the tunnel in protected areas is described there as a major challenge for implementation.

  • Linking EuroAirport to the district heating network is progressing

    Linking EuroAirport to the district heating network is progressing

    The expansion of the heating network to the planned connection of the EuroAirport Basel Mulhouse Freiburg is progressing. The construction company SMCE forage et tunnel based in Sierentz has drilled two 90 meter long tunnels under the A35 motorway in Alsace, according to a press release from Primeo Energie from Münchenstein. The pipes that will transport the heat to the airport in the future will then be laid in the tunnels.

    The heat comes from the biomass power plant in the Alsatian town of Saint-Louis. It is operated by the energy company R-CUE , a subsidiary of the energy supplier Primeo Energie. So far, R-CUE has been supplying the equivalent of 5,000 households with heat via the existing district heating network of 12.3 kilometers and producing electricity at the same time.

    With the EuroAirport, a large heat consumer is added. The airport alone has a heating energy requirement of 3000 apartments. Its connection to the network “will reduce the consumption of fossil fuels by 90 percent” and thus decarbonize its energy mix. At the same time, the connection saves on heating costs, according to the press release.

    Other urban and commercial areas are later to be connected to the district heating network in the Saint-Louis metropolitan area, including the Saint-Louis hypercentre, the centre, south and north zones, the Lys development zone (ZAC) and the Technoport. In total, the network is to grow to a length of 30 kilometers.

    By 2030, up to 68 gigawatt hours of additional heat are to be distributed each year. This corresponds to 10,000 households and requires the construction of a new biomass heating plant, the press release continues. The expansion of the Saint-Louis heating network was decided at the end of 2020.

  • Implenia is building district heating tunnels in Hamburg

    Implenia is building district heating tunnels in Hamburg

    Implenia will build a 1.2 kilometer long tunnel for Wärme Hamburg , the construction and real estate company from Opfikon informs in a press release . The tunnel is to connect the north of Hamburg to a new heating network. To do this, it will cross under the Elbe around 2 kilometers west of the Elbe tunnel for the motorway.

    The work is divided into two phases, with the planning phase starting in October. Implenia has now received the order for further planning and construction work from the beginning of 2022, according to the announcement. The total order volume there is estimated at around 75 million francs.

    The work should be completed by the first quarter of 2025. To this end, Implenia will first create diaphragm walls for the start and finish shafts with a depth of up to 42 meters. A tunnel measuring 1.16 kilometers long and around 4.5 meters in diameter is then to be drilled between them and lined with precast concrete elements. Implenia is also responsible for planning and installing the operating technology for the district heating pipeline.

    "We are very pleased that we are able to create this large and complex infrastructure project for our customer Wärme Hamburg", Erwin Scherer, Head of Tunneling at Implenia, is quoted in the press release. "The fact that we are making a contribution to improving the sustainability of heat generation gives us additional motivation, because sustainability is an Implenia corporate value that we will also live by in this project."

  • Federal Roads Office uses mobile bridge

    Federal Roads Office uses mobile bridge

    The Federal Roads Office ( FEDRO ) has launched the FEDRO Bridge pilot project. According to a press release , this is a mobile bridge for use in maintenance work on motorways. The traffic is slowed down at 60 kilometers per hour over the almost 240 meter long bridge. Underneath there is a space of around 100 meters where work can be carried out undisturbed by road traffic. When the construction phase is finished, the mobile bridge is pushed a hundred meters further and the work continues.

    This eliminates the barriers and shutdowns of sections of the roadway that are otherwise necessary for occupational safety. You can also work unhindered during the day. With today's traffic volume on many sections of the motorway, it has not been possible to reduce lanes for maintenance work during the day for a long time, according to the statement from the Federal Office. Accordingly, more and more construction work on the national highways has to be carried out at night. ASTRA believes that lane reduction without traffic jams on the main axes such as A1 and A2 is only possible after 11 p.m. Because of the lower noise limits, some work such as noisy demolition is not possible at night.

    The Federal Office therefore decided to develop and build the ASTRA Bridge. In the fact sheet for the mobile bridge, the length is specified as exactly 236 meters, the width as 7.30 meters and the height as 4.32 meters. Underneath, it is possible to work on a hundred meters at a width of 5.2 meters and a height of 3.10 meters.

    The ASTRA Bridge is equipped with a landing gear. Raised hydraulically by 10 centimeters, it can travel lengthways and crossways. Once the work under the bridge has been completed, it will continue to drive 100 meters by remote control for the next construction phase, according to the fact sheet. To assemble the bridge before use, 18 low-loaders are required for transport and four cranes are required for assembly.

    According to the Federal Office, the individual elements for the ASTRA Bridge are currently being built and then transported to the bridge's storage area in Rothrist TG. The bridge is to be assembled and tested for the first time in late autumn. If these tests are satisfactory, the ASTRA Bridge will be used in spring 2022 as a pilot project for paving renovations on the A1 section between Recherswil SO and Kriegstetten SO. According to the press release, the ASTRA Bridge prototype will cost around CHF 20 million. After completion of a construction project and a maintenance phase, it can be used again for the next construction project.