Los Cóndores is a 150 MW HPP, including a 12 km long headrace tunnel (4.6m diam, excavated by D&B and a DS hard rock TBM), a 120 m high surge shaft (6m diam), a 480 m high pressure shaft (2.6m diam), both being excavated using a raise borer machine RBM, and a 1.6 km long subhorizontal pressure tunnel leading to an underground powerhouse accommodating 2 Pelton units. The region is volcanic, with several active volcanoes in the recent geological eras. Maule Laguna volcanic complex is one of the major and the geological formation are essentially dacitic and rhyolitic lava field with rich tuff and volcanic breccia presence in subhorizonal sedimentation and several lava and basalt domes and dikes crossing these formations. Excavation of the upper waterway (HRT) is foreseen in two phases through a central adit by TBM, in order to shorten the time for accessing and execute the vertical works. During the excavation of the HRT lower reach, the TBM got stuck in a cohesionless material, likely the seat of a paleo-basin (syncline) or a paleo-canal within the lava and breccia banks. The services targeted the understanding of the situation, definition of the operations required for the TBM to be safely unlocked from the jammed conditions and option for realizing a bypass around the TBM in case no success was provided by other means. Because of the significant modification of the working program, the evaluation was required of the options for realizing the upper reach of the HRT by other mechanized means (second TBM) or other excavation method, given the logistic conditions at site. Possible optimization of vertical works, in terms of efficiency and realization concept was also part of the required services; in particular, a preliminary study considering 5 alternatives of the scheme combined with different excavation methods options (D&B and/or RBM) were carried out, in order to analyze the possibility to disassociate the construction of the vertical works from the TBM advance and to better manage the geological and construction risks associated with vertical works construction.

The hydropower plant is planned on the Rhone near Massongex-Bex above Lake Geneva. It involves the construction of a new low-pressure resp. ron-of-river power pland for hydroelectric production as part of the sustainability strategy. The impound section above the mobile weir has a very small storage volume. The annual production is estimated at 75.5 GWh/year. The main works of the powerplant are the following: - Gated weir with 4 bays for flood discharge (2’500 m³/s) - a powerhouse located on the left bank, equipped with 2 units (Hmoy=7.79 m, Q=2 x 110 m³/s, P=2 x 7.5 MW); - consolidation of the river banks both upstream and downstream; - lowering of the river bed both upstream and downstream in order to increase the head; - a fish pass; - a small unit to turbine the attraction flow of the fish pass.

The design of the Santiago HPP on the Santiago river in Ecuador, realized by the Comisión Federal de Electricidad (CFE) of Mexico, consists of a 190 m high RCC arch gravity dam connected to an underground powerhouse equipped with 6 units with a total installed capacity of 3’600 MW. During the design phase, Lombardi has been charged with a technical assessment of the feasibility study and the basic design by the final client, Celec EP of Ecuador. The proposed design is very challenging in many aspects, like the installed capacity (the project will be the 19th in the world and the 3rd in South America), the magnitude of the flood (PMF=21'000 m³/s), the seismicity of the area, geologic challenges (such as the large unstable area on the right river bank downstream of the dam) and the accessibility of the area. Lombardi effectively collaborated both with CFE and Celec to optimize the design of the plant, working both on the general layout and on the details of the design of the individual components like the dam and all the underground works. The services provided by Lombardi required the collaboration of many senior experts in different technical fields.

Structural measures as part of the concession renewal for water use. Design, owner’s support and local site supervision for the renewal of the low head scheme on the Limmat. The concession water volume for the operation of the Dietikon HPP is 120 m3/s. The residual flow was set in the new concession at 10 m3/s in the winter half-year and at 15 m3/s in the summer half-year. Based on the capacity of the existing headrace channel, a distribution of 95 m3/s of the design charge was chosen for the main power plant and 25 m3/s for the new ecological discharge power plant. The works included: - Retrofit of the main power plant with replacement of the two vertical Kaplan turbines from 1931/32 with new “fish-friendly” turbines (Q = 2 × 47.5 m3/s, HN = 3.4 m, P = 2 × 1.7 MW); - Construction of a new power plant to turbine the ecological discharge with a Kaplan bulb turbine (Q = 25 m3/s, HN = 3.1 m, P = 770 kW); - Construction of two new fish ladders for the upstream migration; - Restoration of the downstream migration by two horizontal trash racks (B x H=22.8 x 5.9 m, spacing 20 mm) at the ecological discharge power plant and upstream of the main power plant; - Adaptation of an existing channel for fish downstream migration; - Reinforcement of the banks of the headrace and tailrace channels; - Replacement of the boat ladder. SIA phases 32, 33, 41, 51, 52 and 53.