Hydropower
Hydropower and pumped hydro storage can be mainstays of a sustainable energy system, providing reliable renewable generation, grid regulation and flexibility.
It’s challenging to plan and design projects that maximise capacity and will be profitable and resilient over the long term, when our climate, environment and energy systems are changing rapidly.
You need a partner with the vision, technical excellence and experience to help your project reach its potential while working in harmony with the environment and local communities.
What can we do for you?
We’re global experts with a long heritage in hydropower worldwide, having worked on numerous pioneering projects that are still world leading after many decades in service.
We can offer you:
Flexibility and security
We work on all types of hydro projects to deliver electricity generation, enhance energy system security and integrate with other renewables.
Sustainability
We help you make early, informed, evidence-based decisions about the location, capacity and scope of your project, ensuring it works with natural systems rather than against them and achieves regulatory expectations.
Lasting value
We work from an early stage to help you secure a supportive social licence to operate, and ultimately designing assets, structures and systems that are better for your organisation and its stakeholders, delivering long term reward.
End-to-end support
From water to wire, and from inception to operation, our comprehensive skill set means we can add value at every stage of hydro projects.
Ngonye Falls hydropower project, Zambia. The 180MW project on the Zambezi River in west Zambia will generate 830GWh of electricity a year − enough for more than 200,000 Zambian households.
Innovative hydropower solutions for sustainable energy
Our global experience is combined with local presence and knowledge. With integrated multidisciplinary advisory and technical capability, our skill set covers every aspect of hydro and pumped storage projects.
Our experience
We have over a century of experience in hydropower, having worked on the first heightening of the Aswan Dam in Egypt more than 100 years ago. Our pumped hydro storage heritage stretches back more than 60 years to the 360MW storage project at Ffestiniog, Wales, which set new standards in hydraulic design and structural efficiency.
We also helped develop the 400MW Cruachan scheme in Scotland – one of the first reversible pumped storage systems – and were involved in designing the 1.2GW Dinorwig Scheme in Wales that has been in operation for 40 years, delivering very rapid response capability.
Our recent projects include:
-
Bunji dam, PakistanWe provided a feasibility study, detailed engineering and tender documents for this 7.1GW dam on the Indus which, if built, will be the largest hydropower project in Pakistan.
-
Chaglla dam, PeruWe provided technical and contractual support as well as construction monitoring for lenders on this project to build one of the world’s largest concrete-faced rockfill dams at Chaglla, providing 6% of Peru’s total electricity.
-
Čierny Váh pumped storage power plant, SlovakiaWe provided pre-feasibility assessments and optioneering for the modernisation of the 40-year-old 730MW Čierny Váh pumped storage power plant.
-
Kidston pumped storage plant, AustraliaWe provided an optimisation study and detailed designs for this project to transform the former gold mining settlement of Kidston in Queensland into a renewable energy hub with a 250MW pumped storage plant at its core.
-
Ngonye Falls hydropower project, ZambiaWe’ve acted as owner’s engineer for this 180MW hydropower project on the Zambezi River, which is set to generate an average of 830GWh of electricity a year − enough for 200,000 Zambian households.
-
Skavica dam, AlbaniaAt 162m, Skavica will be one of the highest concrete gravity dams in the world and will become the controlling dam to an existing three-plant cascade system. We carried out front end engineering design for the project.
-
Suki Kinari hydropower project, PakistanLocated high in the Karakoram Mountains, Suki Kinari is a run-of-river hydropower project that generates enough electricity to power 1.3M homes.
-
Tarbela hydropower facility, PakistanWe designed all five projects at Tarbela – Pakistan’s biggest hydropower facility which captures the potential of water released for irrigation – and are now extending its capacity to 6.4GW and adding floating photovoltaics to help meet peak demand and increase access to renewable energy.
-
White Pine pumped storage project, Nevada, USAThe 1000MW White Pine pumped hydro storage project under development in Ely, Nevada, will provide 8000MWh of energy storage to generate up to eight hours of electricity. We’ve provided feasibility engineering and assessments, licensing support and other specialist services to shape the project.
Water Resources Forecaster
Water Resources Forecaster blends historic, real-time and seasonally predicted weather data to estimate river flow and water availability. It enables users to compare today’s values with long-term ranges. And it uses forecasts to simulate river flows for a range of potential futures. It takes account of potential natural water losses and of gains. The result gives water and hydropower operators a credible glimpse of weeks and months ahead.
