Acquedotto De Ferrari Galliera
| Società Anonima dell'Acquedotto De Ferrari Galliera | |
|---|---|
| legal form | Corporation |
| ISIN | IT0000086022 |
| founding | February 12, 1880 |
| resolution | December 31, 2005 |
| Reason for dissolution | fusion |
| Seat |
Genoa , Liguria , Italy
|
| Branch | Energy supply , water supply |
The Società Anonima dell'Acquedotto De Ferrari Galliera , abbreviated ADFG , was a private company founded in 1880 for the energy and water supply of Genoa . It was merged with other municipal water supply companies at the end of 2005 and merged into the Mediterranea delle Acque , which after several mergers in 2019 belonged to the Gruppo Iren .
history
Genoa has suffered from a lack of water since Roman times. For a long time the water supply was only ensured by the Acquedotto storico , the old aqueduct . In 1853 it was enlarged by the Acquedotto Nicolay . This structure captured the water north of the Apennines and channeled it into the city through the Giovipass tunnel on the Turin – Genoa railway line . The rapidly growing industry in Val Polcevera soon called for a further expansion of the water supply. In 1871, a project was presented that would direct more water for supply and energy use from the north side of the Apennines to Genoa. The project was worked out by three engineers - the brothers Niccolò and Salvatore Bruno and Stefano Grillo. A first concession for the project was granted in 1873. After the financing was clarified, the company Acquedotto De Ferrari Galliera was founded in 1880 , whose name was based on Raffaele De Ferrari (1803–1876), Duke of Galliera . Raffaele was an investor in the former Kingdom of Sardinia , who gained a high reputation among the population through the expansion of the port of Genoa . The Piazza De Ferrari is named after him.
construction
Construction of the aqueduct started in 1880. First, the dam of Lago Lavezze , also called Lago Lungo , and the tunnel under the Apennines were built. The dam was completed in 1883.
The water exiting on the south side of the Apennines at a height of 622 m above sea level had to overcome a large difference in altitude as far as Genoa, which was not necessary for the pressure build-up in the water supply. In order to relieve the water line of pressure, three relief basins were built, which reduced the pressure in the water line to around 18 bar - at that time no pipes for high pressures were available. The first pool was 110 meters below the exit of the tunnel, the second again 110 meters below the first and the third 153 m below the second.
First use of power
The first energy recipients of the aqueduct was the jute spinning mill Costa in the municipality of Campomorone belonging fraction Isoverde that from 1886 over a 400 m long transmission from the power plant Galvani was supplied with mechanical drive energy. The power plant stood at the point of the lowest relief basin , the transmission was driven by two Rieter turbines, the total output was 600 hp.
Since the power plant was able to produce more energy than the spinning mill needed, the excess energy was to be used to generate electricity. The energy should be supplied by a direct current network to companies in Val Polcevera and the city of Genoa. After initial difficulties in implementing this idea, the Swiss engineer René Thury from Cuénod, Sautter & Cie. brought in from Geneva for help. After attempts with a 140 HP turbine in 1898, electricity generation at the Galvani power station was expanded in 1890 , with the electrical energy being distributed to industry in Val Polcevera using the Thury direct current transmission system . The turbines for this plant and the two following power plants came from Faesch & Piccard .
In 1891 the dam of the second lake, Lago Lungo , also called Lago Bigo, was completed, and a second power plant named Volta was put into operation at the top relief basin. In 1892 the third with the name Pacinotti followed at the middle relief basin .
New power plant center in Isoverde
The technology of the Thury systems was outdated, in particular a fault in part of a system led to the total failure of the system until the corresponding device was repaired or bypassed. De Ferrari Galliera therefore decided at the beginning of the 20th century to replace the three existing power plants with a single new one. This made it possible to process the larger amount of water available after improvements to the dams, which could no longer be used by the existing power plants due to insufficient absorption capacity.
In 1904 a new power plant was put into operation near Isoverde, together with a third reservoir, Lago Badana . The power plant had four times the output compared to the total output of all three existing machine houses. These were replaced by the new power plant, and at the same time the power generation was converted to alternating current . The water turbined in the power plant was collected in an equalization basin , which also served as a sedimentation basin for suspended matter so that the water could be used for the drinking water supply of Genoa.
Between 1906 and 1908 the dam of the third reservoir, Lago Badana, was built.
In 2006 the Lago Badana had to be emptied because the dam wall was leaking. A repair turned out to be difficult, especially since the area around the lake is part of a nature park. The repair of the dam will start in 2020 at the earliest.
technology
Today's expansion
The system consists of the two reservoirs Lago Bruno and Lago Lungo in the 24 km² catchment area of the Gorzente , which can store the water of the winters with high levels of precipitation over the summer. The third reservoir belonging to the facility, Lago Badana, is currently empty because the dam wall is leaking. From Lago Bruno , also called Lago Lavezze , a 2.3 km long tunnel leads under Monte Guana to the south side of the Apennines, which emerges from the mountain at an altitude of 622 m above sea level. The adjoining pressure pipe is 1340 m long and has a fall height of 352 m. The machine house , made of concrete and masonry, is located on the Chiappa about one kilometer from Isoverde in the hamlet of Gallaneto.
Thury system
All power plants generated direct current, which was distributed according to the Thury system. Each power plant bore the family name of an Italian scientist. These were Luigi Galvani , Alessandro Volta and Antonio Pacinotti .
Each power plant was assigned its own current loop based on the Thury system, which had no connection to the other loops. There were thus three lines: a 14.4 km long line from the Galvani power plant to the San Quirico district , a second 46.2 km long line from the Volta power plant to the city center and a third 32.7 km long line from the Pacinotti power plant to the train station in Sampierdarena .
Generators and consumers were connected in series in the loop. The resulting high voltage in the transmission line kept the losses within limits. A current of 47 A was kept constant in the loop, the voltage varied with the load between 450 V when idling and 6000 V under full load. When the load was low, generators were switched off by bridging them.
In the final stage of completion , the Galvani power plant had five machine sets. Each consisted of a 140 HP Rieter turbine with two 6-pole Thury generators flanged on both sides. The voltage was regulated by changing the speed of the generators, which could fluctuate between 20 and 475 revolutions per minute.
The Volta power plant had five machine sets with 140 HP turbines from Faesch & Piccard in use. In contrast to the Galvani power plant , in the case of the Volta the current in the loop was not kept constant by changing the machine speed , but by changing the excitation current of the generators. The turbines thus had a constant speed that was kept constant for all turbines by a common controller. In 1891, electricity with a total output of 300 kW was supplied to ten customers. These included the stearin production of the later Mira Lanza and the Strade Ferrate del Mediterraneo railway company, which later became part of the FS , and which used the energy for the station lighting.
The Pacinotti power station had four 140 hp machine sets, which in turn were operated with the speed control of the turbines. The regulation took place via a shaft running across the machine sets, which was driven by a 1 HP motor, which increased or decreased the water supply to the turbines depending on the current strength in the Thury loop.
Preserved parts of the old plant
The old power stations are still partially preserved. The Galvani headquarters ⊙ serves as a residential building; a base ⊙ from the transmission to the jute mill has been preserved.
See also
literature
- Marco Doria: L'acqua e la città. Storia degli acquedotti genovesi. De Ferrari Galliera e Nicolay (secoli XIX-XX). Franco Angeli, Milan 2009 ISBN 978-8856805116 .
- Alberto Manzini: Eau et énergie: the aqueduc de Ferrari Galliera dans le réseau des aqueducs de la ville de Gênes . In: e-Phaïstos . tape IV , no. 2 , October 1, 2015, ISSN 2262-7340 , p. 22-35 , doi : 10.4000 / ephaistos.736 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Press release on the establishment of the Mediterranea delle Acque . (Italian, medacque.it [PDF]).
- ^ A b Giorgio Temporelli, Nicoletta Cassinelli: La storia dell'acqua a Genova . 2007, L'Acquedotto De Ferrari Galliera, p. 18th ff . ( fontanelle.org [PDF]).
- ↑ a b c d e f William Cawthorne Unwin: On the development and transmission of power from central stations . London and New York, Longmans, Green, 1894, pp. 290 ff . ( archive.org ).
- ^ Giampiero Carbone: Lago Badana, in 2020 la gara per assegnare i lavori sulla diga. In: Giornale7. Retrieved November 28, 2019 (it-IT).
- ↑ Maria Pia Turbi: Le Centrali Idroelecttriche degli Acquedotti di Genova 1883-2008 . June 13, 2009, p. 9 ( cai.it [PDF]).
- ↑ Niccolo Bruno: L'acquedotto De Ferrari Galliera . Hoepli. Milano. 1893. Vol. 2. Annex 26 (plan of the Galvani power station) Wikimedia Commons
- ^ I laghi del Gorzente. Città Metropolitana di Genova, September 1, 2014, accessed December 7, 2019 (Italian, floor plan of the headquarters at 1:50).