To complete the connection to Endesa’s solar power plant in Puertollano, southern Spain, only one task remained: a 200-metre-long trenchless crossing under the Madrid-Seville high-speed railway line and the adjacent Ciudad Real-Puertollano-Badajoz railway. However, after several months of work, completing the HDD works was proving tricky.
With work at a standstill, OMEXOM reached out to OPTIMUM for a solution. Trenchless specialist Gonzalo Perez-Burgos visited the site to assess the situation and witness the geotechnical constraints firsthand. OPTIMUM then prepared an Expert Opinion report to provide insight into the situation and to propose technical solutions to break the deadlock.
- The solution ? A revised drilling profile and mode op (cleaning run with a boulder basket, pulling ducts directly into the reamed hole to reduce the reaming diameter).
- The result ? Using the same driller, the same rig, virtually the same entry and exit points – but following OPTIMUM’s redesigned drill path and recommendations – the crossing was successfully completed, just five weeks after that initial phone call.
Another exciting project in Europe’s journey towards sustainable energy development.
