"Green construction roads" - Soil protection during construction

Year

2020

Organisation

Amprion

Description

Amprion constructed 43km of underground cable for the German section of the first power bridge between Germany and Belgium: the ALEGrO project. To reduce the project’s invasiveness, Amprion created a comprehensive soil management plan and was the first to utilise the innovative “Green construction road” concept on a large scale project.

Objectives:

  • Development of a soil management plan for 180,000m3 of soil, to prevent soil compaction, reduce interference and retain the soil functions, e.g. agricultural use
  • Improved transparency with stakeholders, creating smoother permitting processes for future projects

Main information:

In order to retain the soil functions, Amprion developed a soil management plan that determines the careful removal and replacement of soil layers in the correct order. For this purpose, Amprion consulted third-party soil experts during the planning and the construction phase. Furthermore, the concept of “Grüne Baustraße” (green construction road) was advanced: Unlike conventional excavating, that requires construction roads to be built on lower B-horizon soil, Amprion built their construction roads on the grassy top soil. This practice prevented soil compaction, reduced soil displacement by around 70,000 m3, and reduced the diesel fuel consumption during the construction work.

Additional information:

Amprion is a German TSO operating from Lower Saxony to the Alps.

RGI gratefully acknowledges the EU LIFE funding support:

EU LIFE funding support Logo

Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the LIFE Programme. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.