Thursday, October 24 saw the repositioning of the Cavaticcio power plant’s turbine after its refurbishment promoted by Canali di Bologna.
The hydropower plant
Located underground in Largo Caduti del Lavoro, between Via Marconi and Via Azzo Gardino, the power plant takes advantage of a 15-meter natural jump in the canal, with an estimated capacity of 1 MW. It will be able to produce green energy, increasing the city’s production by about 2,500 MWh per year, equivalent to the needs of about 1,200 households.
The revamping
The hydropower turbine returns to the old city of Bologna after significant revamping. Pulled out in March 2023 and transferred for a thorough refurbishment at specialised workshops in northeastern Italy, it will be operational again from January 2025, after a series of tests and inspections. The reinstallation work will take about 4 weeks, making use of special cranes.
During the refurbishment work, unforeseeable deteriorations and wear conditions of some parts of the turbine were found to be higher than originally expected. The additional activities resulted in a time increase of about twelve months as well as costs, which reached 1.7 million euros.
The contracted company, Hydroalp, part of BM Group, has been involved in the executive project to restore and improve the turbine.
Luca Mion, CEO of Hydroalp: “The placement of the turbine marks a decisive step in the project timeline, followed by the commissioning. We are honoured to provide our experience, both technical and managerial, to give back to the city of Bologna this historic plant that will produce green energy. Hydroalp’s mission is precisely to contribute to the production of clean and renewable energy through advanced technological solutions and interventions aimed at improving the performance of existing plants while ensuring maximum reliability and durability over time.”
The whole process was also supported by the Municipality of Bologna and communicated to residents and business owners in the area, whom we thank for their understanding.
The revamping intervention is promoted and financed by the Consortium of the Chiusa di Casalecchio e del Canale di Reno (canals of Bologna), which owns the power plant through its management company Gacres srl. It is also a specific action and an integral part of the Climate City Contract of the City of Bologna, in which the Consortium is a partner, approved in March this year by the City Council.
Thanks to this intervention, a machine revamped according to the most modern technological standards of the twenty-first century will meet actual needs, generating clean energy through the power of water from a canal that has been feeding the city for more than 800 years.
