Upper Kaleköy Dam and HEPP

The 626.85 MW Upper Kaleköy dam and hydroelectric power plant is located on the Murat River which flows through the outskirts of Bingöl city in eastern Türkiye.

The project entailed the construction of a 2,340,000 m³ roller-compacted-concrete (RCC) gravity dam with an integral conventional concrete (CVC) water intake, which is 150 meters tall from foundation, 137.50 meters tall from stream bed, and has a crest length of 535 meters. It includes a concrete spillway with a discharge capacity of 8,800 m³/s. About 2,300,000 m³ of soil were excavated at the left abutment, and more than 220,000 m³ of reinforced concrete was used to build the spillway.

The river diversion scope comprises two tunnels, and upstream/downstream cofferdams with a roller-compacted-concrete (RCC) volume of 60,000 m³. The tunnels measuring 846 meters and 951 meters in length, were excavated to a diameter of 11.5 meters, and concrete lined to a finished diameter of 9.5 meters respectively. They were built to ensure adequate river diversion flow during the construction.

The power plant, situated at the toe of the dam, and houses three (3) vertical shaft Francis-turbine-generator units with an installed capacity of 626.85 MW. A 400 kV switchyard, and a 10-kilometer-long 400 kV high-voltage energy transmission line, also were built, and integrated to supplement the national inter-connected network with locally produced power. Cengiz Construction Company, and its joint venture (JV) lead partner Özaltın Construction Company delivered to Kalehan Energy Company all civil work, six months earlier than, and within the budget of contractual deadline.