The invitation to tender for construction of electrical and lighting installations, piping, data connection cables, control units, etc. for the visitor centre at the Turin-Lyon construction site in Chiomonte has been published. The contract also includes the geothermal plant that will power the visitors' centre and the site offices for the base tunnel on the Italian side during the construction period, providing energy to heat the structures in winter and cool them in summer.

The project is the result of a study conducted by the Polytechnic University of Turin, based on the experiences of the Maddalena tunnel, to reuse the hot water intercepted during excavation of the tunnel as sustainable energy for Italy's largest construction site on the Turin-Lyon railway line.

According to studies, the water drained from the tunnel comes from hundreds of small underground streams that in total provide a flow rate of 60 to 90 litres per second. At present, the water flows at the bottom of the tunnel and is conveyed to pumping tanks from which it is channelled outside the tunnel by means of electric motor pumps to tanks where it is cooled and then returned to the Dora Riparia river at the right temperature.

Studies also show a geothermal system, using a heat pump, will save about 185 MWh/year in energy compared to a traditional heating system, with a consequent reduction in CO2 emissions. Clean, sustainable energy which, once the work has been completed, and also in the light of the experiments in the pipeline, can be reused by the surrounding areas in various ways: district heating, to supply the needs of a municipal swimming pool or public buildings. For further information please click here, fr/11 and en/80 for information from the tunnelbuilder archive and link to https://www.telt-sas.com/. 04/22.