Bridging Mechanical Software and BIM: A Pumped-Storage Hydroelectric Plant in Morocco

The project consists of a pumped-storage hydroelectric plant in Morocco of 284 million euros. The water stored in an uphill tank will be released into a 3-kilometre transfer line (penstock and galleries) and travel on a natural slope to a tank about 550 meters downhill. A 350 MW hydroelectric plant will be built along the penstock between the 2 reservoirs. The reversible plant will generate electricity when operating in turbine mode and pump water from the lower to the upper reservoir in pumping mode. The system will thus generate renewable energy on demand. The system can be switched between pumping and turbine mode up to 20 times a day, depending on the amount of surplus electricity available or the needs of the Moroccan electricity grid. This class will focus on the plant and the project BIM challenges and goals. I will explain the different actors, their scope of work, their tools, and the different software uses. I will also explain how this new way of working was implemented even if all actors had never completed a BIM project before. The main obstacles of the project, concerning digital and interoperability will be highlighted and explained. The class will review all experiments that have been done to achieve 2 main goals: allow a good model integration in the design software despite their differences and produce correct 2D plans. The class will show how Revit can integrate mechanical files made by Siemens NX through .sat files and Inventor, and the best practices and ways to integrate the models correctly. It will also show the reverse way how the mechanical software can integrate Revit files. It will present a workflow to integrate all models into Navisworks through Revit to be able to do classic 3D coordination. The presentation will conclude with the main benefits of doing 3D models instead of 2D even through a huge and long workflow.