Implenia wins order to build the new 380-kV Berlin Diagonal Power Link

50Hertz Transmission GmbH has commissioned Implenia to build a new replacement for the 380-kV Berlin Diagonal Power Link. The order is worth around EUR 130 million (approximately CHF 140 million).

The existing 380 kV line, which mainly runs underground through the city, needs to be replaced to ensure the German capital can maintain a reliable, environmentally friendly and economical power supply into the future. Implenia is building a walk-through tunnel to carry the cable. The city will continue to use the old system until the launch of the new one.

Starting at the site of the terminal mast at Rudolf Wissell bridge, the approximately seven-kilometre-long tunnel will run about 20 to 30 metres below the surface, via the intermediate shafts at 50Hertz’s Charlottenburg substation and Tiergarten park, to the terminal shaft at the 50Hertz substation “Mitte”. Four shaft structures divide the tunnel from west to east into three continuous sections; completion is scheduled for 2028.

“One of the notable things about this project is the close cooperation between Implenia’s civil engineering, special foundations and tunnelling business units. The customer will undoubtedly benefit from our specialists’ cross-disciplinary expertise,” says René Kotacka, Head of Division Civil Engineering at Implenia.