The work and the technique: Rogun Hydropower Project, Tajikistan
The dam of the Rogun Hydroelectric Project is made of rockfill, with a clay-based material used for the core. It will have an overall volume of approximately 80 million cubic metres with a crest length of 800m. Once the project is complete, energy will be produced by a group of six 600MW Francis turbines. Initial operations included diverting the Vakhsh River into two diversion tunnels in order to ensure that the riverbed on which the foundations of the dam were to be built was sufficiently dry. The first two turbines of the Power House were put into operation between 2018 and 2019. In 2020, the reservoir reached a height of 1,070m, allowing for a significant boost in electricity production. In 2021, the upstream dam reached an height of 1,125m and work began on excavating the core, marking the start of another crucial stage in the construction of the project. In 2022, construction work began on the core foundation structure for the dam. In November 2023, the foundation for the dam’s core was completed, using a solution implemented in an environment presenting a whole host of technical, geological, climatic and logistical challenges.
The foundation of the dam’s core is truly vast in size: it is divided into eight blocks, each between 20 and 25m long - for a combined length of 180m - as well as being 120m wide from bank to bank and stretching to a maximum height of 22m. Approximately 290,000m³ of roller-compacted concrete (RCC) was used to construct it.
Another extremely innovative solution applied in this project is the FlyingBelt System, a material transportation system that makes the construction stages more efficient by quickly and sustainably moving loads from place to place. Based on the left bank of the area downstream of the dam, the FlyingBelt System is a suspended conveyor belt capable of transporting heavy loads, attached to 65mm-diameter steel ropes and anchored to two loading and unloading stations positioned at either end. The FlyingBelt System has a total length of 650m and a transportation capacity of 3,000 tonnes per hour, forming part of a system of conveyor belts for the dam’s construction materials that spans a total distance of approximately 10km and helps to reduce CO2 emissions significantly.