Type
Water Utilities
Local
Portugal
State
Finished
Year
2012
Client
EEM - Empresa de Electricidade da Madeira, S.A.
The hydroelectric system includes a dam (Lagoa do Poço Ladrão) that will constitute a strategic reserve of water, both for electricity generation and public supply. The dam will supply water for 3 destinations using turbines: Pico da Urze reservoir, Canal do Norte and Fonte do Juncal. The main components that make part of the system are:
• Lagoa do Poço Ladrão:
- Reservoir volume: 2 x 106 m³, Maximum height: 17 m, Width: 2 - 5 m, Crown length: 1,480 m, Spillway design flow rate: 0.5 m³/s for a period of 1,000 years.
• Tunnels:
- Horizontal tunnel: Length: 815 m; Size: 8.7 x 7.9 m;
- Vertical Tunnel: Length: 750 m; Diameter: 4.1 m
• Mini-hydro:
- Chão da Ribeira Mini-Hydro: Useful height: 931 m; Flow rate: 600 L/s; Turbine type: Pelton; Installed Capacity: 4.8 MW.
- Fonte Juncal Mini-Hydro 1: Useful height: 574 m; Flow rate: 400 L/s; Turbine type: Pelton; Installed Capacity: 2 MW.
- Fonte Juncal Mini-Hydro 2: Useful height: 267 m; Flow rate: 300 L/s; Turbine type: Pelton; Installed Capacity: 0.68 MW.
- Canal Norte Mini-Hydro: Useful height: 409 m; Flow rate: 350 L/s; Turbine type: Pelton; Installed Capacity: 1.22 MW.
- Pico da Urze Mini-Hydro: Useful height: 54 m; Flow rate: 600 L/s; Turbine type: Francis; Installed Capacity: 0.275 MW.
Services provided in terms of feasibility study involved several areas, such as: Selection of infrastructure sites; Hydrological studies: Rainfall, soil erosion, flow rate measurement, energy analysis; Geological and geotechnical studies; Hydraulic flow and sediment modelling including the impact study of dam failure; Design of dam structures and other bodies; Hydraulic design of water intake tunnels, penstocks, spillways and turbines; Transient analysis and protective devices; Design of electrical and electromechanical equipment; Operational and safety guidelines; Economic and environmental analysis.