Automatic System of Technical Dam Control (ASTKZ) in The Żarnowiec hydropower plant was implemented by BUDOKOP in the years 2001 – 2004.

[PGE Energia Odnawialna S.A.]
The Żarnowiec hydropower plant – The highest pumped storage power plant in Poland (716 MW). The Żarnowieckie lake is the main reservoir while  the Czymanowo lake constructed on the above plateau is the upper reservoir.

Automatic System of Technical Dam Control (ASTKZ) was implemented by BUDOKOP in the years 2001 – 2004. It was the first time the sensors for measuring the size of extension joints underwater were used.

The system provided complex stability analysis of the embankments of the upper reservoir, the inlet chamber and the main building of the power plant. Automatic control and measurement system comprises of the following sensors measuring:

  • water level in standpipe piezometers,
  • drainflow of the upper reservoir,
  • drainflow of the control galeries,
  • the size of expansion joints,
  • the tilt of the main building and the inlet chamber,
  • the temperature of the concrete, the asphalt concrete, the water and the air,
  • the weather condtions by the power plant building and by the upper reservoir.

The data are sent to the measuring cabinets and then remotely to the mainframe computer. The access to both the new as well as achived data is provided through the user’s friendly software with the visualisation option.