These works are at more than 83% progress. More than 120 professionals work on this project, that is expected to finish construction in September 2023.
Capacity of 169.71 cubic hectometers
The reservoir will have a capacity to hold 169.71 hm3. The Gállego river -from the Monegros canal, downstream of the La Sotonera reservoir- and the excedent water from Cinca river flow into the reservoir. This water mass will be enclosed with two dams that close off a surface of more than 1,152 ha.
The East dam, located in the municipality of Huesca, is almost entirely complete. This will be the shortest of the two, but also the widest, at almost 4 km wide, and it will be C-shaped as part of the closing mechanism. The West dam is the taller of the two in height, at 45.5 meters tall, but shorter in length, at 2.8 km.
The West dam will contain the bottom drain, the intakes, the pumping units and the turbines; in addition to being connected to the Monegros Canal, that supplies the water that fills the reservoir. The tower and the intake gallery are already completed, and we are currently working on the pumping and turbine station.
The estimation is that some 7.5 million m3 of materials -mostly clays- will be used to build the two dam walls.
The suction pipe is 1,300 meters long and it transports the water from the Monegros canal to the reversible pumping/turbines station. The water current runs through the West dam and ends in a 60-meter-high intake tower. In addition to the works previously mentioned, there is the building of the pumping-turbine station, an outdoor electrical substation, the reservoir spillway, accesses, etc. The pumping station consists of 6 pumping units, plus a reserve pump.
The pumping station has a design flow rate of 24 m3/s, which is brought to the reservoir through two parallel (reversible) pipes with a diameter of 2,500 mm. The turbines that generate electricity from the waterfall from the dam will be installed in the pumping station building itself.