As the ARGE EquiFEL Suisse consortium, Alpiq InTec, Specogna Bau AG and Eberhard Bau AG have been awarded the contract by the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) for the implementation of the building and the technical infrastructure for the new free-electron X-ray laser SwissFEL. Alpiq InTec is responsible for the project management and the provision of the technical infrastructure, a corresponding General Contractor Agreement between the PSI and the consortium has been signed.
Strengths in various disciplines Amongst other things, Alpiq InTec owes the successful winning of the contract to its strengths in various business areas such as project planning and implementation of the building’s technical facilities, which forms the largest part of the contract. Alpiq InTec is also involved on the project in the installation of the heating/cooling, the ventilation, the sanitary facilities and the electrical installation. “To be a part of this project is something very special for us: Not only because the PSI enjoys a very good reputation in research worldwide, but because we can contribute our strengths in various disciplines”, is how Marco Hirzel from Alpiq InTec describes the significance of the contract.
High-tech X-ray laser for cutting-edge research The construction work on the SwissFEL building and for the technical infrastructure will start in April 2013. The handover of the completed building to PSI is planned for the end of 2014, and the SwissFEL should go into operation at the end of 2016. The PSI’s new large-scale research facility is being built in the immediate vicinity of the PSI in the Würenlingen forest in the Swiss canton of Aargau. Researchers will be able to use these pulses to visualize extremely fast processes, such as how new molecules are created in a chemical reaction; to determine the detailed structure of vital proteins; or to determine the relationship between electronic and atomic structure in materials.