PAM conquering the Swiss mountains

900 meters of Saint-Gobain PAM pipe have been installed to supply water to a new hydroelectric plant in the Swiss canton of Valais.

Switzerland has developed many hydroelectric plants that now cover 60% of the country’s energy. Given its expertise and catalogue of solutions, Saint-Gobain PAM is an ideal partner for this type of project.

It all starts at an altitude of 1,654 meters where the Gerewasser River water is captured. The water then flows through a tunnel and then in a rocky environment at the rate of 3,000 liters per second. It ends up in the Gere power plant which should generate 22 million kWh per year, that is enough to power 5,000 households.

For this project, Saint-Gobain PAM supplied 900 meters of its NATURAL (for the tunnel) and ZMU (for the rocky environment) solutions with a diameter of 1,000 mm, manufactured at the Pont-à-Mousson plant in France. These products were chosen because of the flexibility of their coatings and the fact that the pipes can be locked using joint systems free of welds or concrete support blocks. But also, their resistance and long life span. The hydraulic pressure in these pipes can be as high as 26 bar, that is eight times higher than at a domestic tap.