BarChip Fibre Reinforced Shotcrete

Alto Maipo is a run-of-the-river hydro electric power project, located in the Andes mountain range around 60 km southeast of Santiago, Chile. It is currently the largest construction project in Chile. Alto Maipo consists of two hdyro electric power plants, the Alfalfal II and Las Lajas, which together will generate 531 MW of power.

Waters of the Volcán, Yeso and Colorado rivers will be diverted to the turbines and returned to the Maipo River almost 6 kilometers upstream. In total approximately 66 km of TBM and Drill & Blast tunnelling works will be completed for water diversion works. A highlight of the project is the two Barchip fibre reinforced 40,000 m3 subterranean caverns housing the power plants.

Given the site location in the Andes making material transportation difficult and the naturally corrosive environment, BarChip macro synthetic fibre was chosen as the shotcrete reinforcement for the drill and blast tunnelling works. BarChip fibre reinforcement is high performance, corrosion free and easily transported, making it the perfect choice for this major infrastructure project.