Start-up of power station Búrfell II
Today marks the start-up and cornerstone placement ceremony for Landsvirkjun newest hydropower station, Búrfell II. The project involves the expansion of the Búrfell Power Plant in southern Iceland.
Design has been ongoing since 2015 and construction commenced in the spring of 2016. Búrfell Station II will maximize the utilization of the Þjórsá river flow at Búrfell.
Verkís was Landsvirkjun’s main consultant on the project and in charge of all tender documents, the final design, construction assistance and design review of procured equipment.
The new station is located underground in Sámsstaðaklif, but water for the plant is taken from the reservoir of the current Búrfell power plant (Bjarnalón). A 370 m long headrace canal waterway was excavated to connect the reservoir to the new power intake.
From the power intake the water drops down a 110 m long vertical pressure shaft into the powerhouse and from there it is led through a 450 m tailrace tunnel followed by a 2.2 km long tailrace canal leading into river Fossá, about 1 km south of the original Búrfell station.
The present installed power of the new station is 100 MW from a single turbine but future plans anticipate a 40 MW addition. Búrfell Station II increases the Icelandic electrical energy supply by up to 300 GWh per year. This can be attributed to both increased utilization of the existing flow and a reduction in drop losses in the current station when the load on the existing plant is transferred to the new station.
The expansion of the Búrfell power plant was designed according to BIM methodology, using three-dimensional design models of all construction and all plant systems. Design review, coordination and collision testing of piping and wiring systems were conducted using three-dimensional design models. In addition to this three-dimensional scanning was used in the project with the aim of increasing the quality of the end result.
Verkís would like to congratulate Landsvirkjun on the new power plant addition and thank the company and its staff for the cooperation leading up to it.
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