Limberg 3: The power plant cathedral in the mountain
06.12.2022Kaprun
At 43 metres in height, the machinery cavern of Limberg 3 is big enough to hold Vienna's St. Stephen's Cathedral. But instead, once the excavation work is complete, the might cavern will be filled floor by floor with concrete.
Since the start of construction in April 2021, 350 workers have been labouring around the clock to advance the Limberg 3 pumped storage power plant in Kaprun. Deep inside the mountain, beneath the Limberg dam, a power plant cavern of stupendous dimensions was created over months of blasting work. The cavity is 25 metres wide, 63 metres long and 43 metres high, and is located immediately next to the machine hall of Limberg 2.
The concreting works in the cavern will continue until 2023. In parallel with this, the tunnels that supply water to the turbines, the horizontal inlet tunnel and the steeply inclined pressure pipeline will be concreted and armoured.
Ecological rock greening
The spoil will be greened under ecological supervision using the proven grass turf method. The greening has already proven effective at Limberg 2: the humus is lifted off the existing vegetation like a carpet, cultivated in greenhouses and applied to the fresh rock deposits. In this way, nature can effortlessly reconquer its habitat, even in sensitive, high-mountain areas.
The concreting works in the cavern will continue until 2023. In parallel with this, the tunnels that supply water to the turbines, the horizontal inlet tunnel and the steeply inclined pressure pipeline will be concreted and armoured.
Ecological rock greening
The spoil will be greened under ecological supervision using the proven grass turf method. The greening has already proven effective at Limberg 2: the humus is lifted off the existing vegetation like a carpet, cultivated in greenhouses and applied to the fresh rock deposits. In this way, nature can effortlessly reconquer its habitat, even in sensitive, high-mountain areas.
