Berlin
Marzahn Combined Heat and Power Plant
Berlin, Germany / 09.2017 - 07.2020
A combined cycle gas and steam turbine power station has been built in the Marzahn district of Berlin to supplement the capital’s energy supply. For this project, PORR structural engineering München was responsible for the main construction works, as well as the design and turnkey construction of several operational and ancillary buildings. These included the unit control building, the administration building, the staff facilities, storage and workshop building, and the garage building. At the heart of the plant is the so-called ‘power block’, comprising the turbine houses, transformer buildings, the boiler house, the feedwater pump house and the switchgear building.
Facts & Figures
Company
PORR GmbH & Co. KGaA
Type
Power plants
Runtime
09.2017 - 07.2020
Energy infrastructure for Berlin
Construction for a large-scale technical plant
Buildings and facilities for energy generation, as well as the associated technical infrastructure, were erected on the power station site. The construction work took place in parallel with extensive assembly and fit-out work carried out by various trades. In addition to the foundation slabs for the steel construction, a turbine foundation, a turbine base, two stairwells up to 45 m high and the switchgear building were constructed. The individual construction phases were coordinated with the requirements of the technical installations and their subsequent assembly.
Reinforced concrete stair towers
Among the plant’s most striking structures are the stair towers, which are up to 45 m high. They were constructed using climbing formwork and built in sections. Concrete mixes tailored to the construction processes were used for the concreting work. During the winter months, additional measures were implemented to control the temperature of the structural elements. These included, amongst other things, heating systems and protective covers during the concrete’s curing phase. In this way, the power plant’s vertical access structures were erected step by step above the plant site.
Turbine platform above the power plant site
A key component of the power plant is the turbine platform. It is situated approximately 15 m above the site and serves as the supporting structure for the turbine and generator. The structure is supported by six vibration dampers. A temporary auxiliary structure was erected for its construction, capable of accommodating around 45 tonnes of reinforcing steel, 170 embedded parts and approximately 280 m³ of concrete. This structure forms the basis for the subsequent arrangement of the technical equipment within the power plant.
Concrete construction to meet technical requirements
Project-specific concrete mixes were used for individual components of the plant. Prior to construction, investigations and test series were carried out to determine the required material properties. During the concreting process and the subsequent curing phases, the components were monitored by measurement systems. Sensors recorded the temperature development within the structures. This resulted in the reinforced concrete structures that house the power plant’s technical infrastructure.
Building on a confined site
The work took place within a power station site that was already heavily equipped with installations. Alongside the civil engineering works, assembly, steel construction and fit-out work were carried out simultaneously. Lifting equipment, material transport and the working areas of various trades had to be co-ordinated within the construction site. Step by step, the structural foundation for the future power generation plant took shape.
The foundation for power station operations
Even before the turbines, pipework and technical systems could be commissioned, foundations, reinforced concrete structures and operational buildings were erected on the site of the Marzahn combined heat and power plant. The shell and civil engineering works laid the groundwork for the installation of the technical equipment. In this way, another building block of the capital’s energy infrastructure was created in the east of Berlin.
