Deriner dam and underground hydropower plant

The 670 MW Deriner hydropower scheme is located on the Çoruh River in North Eastern Turkey. The construction began in 1998 and was completed in 2014. The Deriner dam is a 249 m high double curvature concrete arch dam with a 750 m long crest, the highest in Turkey. The underground powerhouse is equipped with 4 units with Francis turbines.  The electricity produced is injected in the network through a 380 kV switchyard.

Technical description of the deriner dam and hydropower scheme

The Deriner dam is a 249 m high double curvature concrete arch dam with a 750 m long crest. The volume of concrete placement amounted to 3,400,000 m3. The 917 m long diversion tunnel is horseshoe-shaped and has a 11.4 m diameter. To secure the foundation, over 2,000 re-stressable post-tensioned rock anchors were installed. The eight orifice spillways consist of 2.8 m x 5.6 m openings through the dam and are equipped with flat gates with a max discharge of 7’000 m3/s. The lateral overflow spillways consist of two tunnels, each on opposing banks, with a max. discharge capacity of 2’250 m3/s. The right tunnel is 459 m long and the left one is 472 m long. Each tunnel is controlled by a 6.5 m high, 24 m long flap gate. The power intake is located next to the dam on the right bank. It consists of an inclined concrete structure on top of a 133 m high vertical shaft. At the base of the shaft a horizontal steel lined tunnel leads to a four branches manifold (L = 195 m) and to four lined penstocks (diameter = 6.8 m, L = 27 m each). The powerhouse complex comprises the main cavern (L = 120 m, B = 20 m, H = 43 m) and the valve chamber (L = 95 m, B = 9 m, H = 19 m). The total excavated volume is over 500'000 m3.

The underground powerhouse is equipped with 4 units with Francis turbines, having a total installed capacity of 670 MW. The turbined water is discharged to the Çoruh River through four tailrace tunnels (diameter = 12 m, L = 75 m). The produced energy is transferred by bus bar ducts through two vertical shafts from the generators to the transformers located in a separate cavern and from there to the 380 kV switchyard. The Scheme was commissioned in February 2013.

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