Walchensee Hydroelectric Power Station

Walchensee power station
Location of Walchensee power station in Germany
Country	Germany
Location	Walchensee, Kochel
Coordinates	47°37′54″N 11°20′15″E / 47.63167°N 11.33750°E / 47.63167; 11.33750Coordinates: 47°37′54″N 11°20′15″E / 47.63167°N 11.33750°E / 47.63167; 11.33750
Status	Operating
Commission date	1924
Owner(s)	E.ON
Thermal power station
Primary fuel	Hydro

Overview of the turbines

The Walchensee Power Plant (German: Walchenseekraftwerk) is a hydroelectric power station in Bavaria Germany. It is a storage power station that is fed water from the Walchensee Lake which is then released into the Kochelsee Lake. The original installed output was 124 MW. The power plant is located south of Kochelsee, about 14 kilometres (8.7 mi) from the village of Walchensee, and generating 300 MW as of 2010. It is one of the largest of its kind in Germany.^[1]

Changing of the Pelton wheels

Water pipes

Technical operation

Pipes

The power station uses the hydraulic head of about 200 metres (660 ft) between the Walchensee (acting as the upper reservoir, at 802 metres/2,631 ft above sea level) and the Kochelsee (599 metres/1,965 ft a.s.l.) to generate electricity.^[2] Through six 450-metre (1,480 ft) ducts connecting the two natural lakes, the water flows to the hydro-electric plant's four Pelton water turbines with single-phase generators and four Francis water turbines with three-phase generators, which then exits into the Kochelsee.^[3] Because the water level constantly changes, neither lake fully freezes in the wintertime; what does freeze over the lakes is potentially hazardous thin ice. The natural outflow of the Walchensee at Niedernach—over the Jachen to the River Isar—is blocked by a weir, but the natural inflow to the lake is still insufficient to provide enough water to the reservoir for the operation of the power station, so the waters of the Rißbach river are also used.

Isar transfer

The Isar, which flows as a whitewater river from the Austrian part of the Karwendel mountains, is dammed between Mittenwald and Krün by a weir to form the Krüner Isar reservoir (870 metres/2,850 ft) and then diverted to the Walchensee. This water flows past the Krün hydroelectric plant in an open channel, through a culvert under the B 11 road at Wallgau and then via a tunnel to the Sachensee lake (867 metres/2,844 ft). Here a 3.9 kilometer of long penstocks begins, at whose end the water propels the turbines of the run hydro-electric power plant upperoh (795m) and finally into the lake flows. At the thing lake surplus water becomes - because the quantity the need exceeds in upperoh or one does not need at all - above ground derived. It falls down after leaving the memory over a steep stage (the so-called Isarfall), flows then in the upper oh channel to the north and flows finally with Einsiedl into the Walchensee. On the way there the laboratory for hydraulic engineering and water management DO Munich happened.

Rißbach transfer

The Rißbach comes from the northern part of the Karwendel mountains, where it gathers the water of smaller streams in the Ahornboden area. After crossing the border between Tirol and Bavaria and immediately after the inlet of the Fermersbach is accumulated the water-rich brook with the Oswaldhuette at the road front tear (Bavaria) - Hinterriss (Tirol) (830m). Here a lug begins with 6960m length, which with front tear with a culvert under the riverbed of the Isar and the toll road running beside it, and at the run hydro-electric power plant Niedernach at the southeast end of the Walchensees is passed through finally ends. The power station has been in operation since 1951.

Distinctive features

The main road from the village of Walchensee to Urfeld runs below the steep slopes of the Herzogstand. The construction must withstand the pressure exerted by the Walchensee on the embankment, so that the road does not slide away. If the water level in winter falls due to outflow through the Walchensee power station, the use of the road must be limited by a weight restriction for trucks. At a certain time in the spring the operators are, on pain of penalties, obligated to increase the water level again in such a way that traffic restrictions—primarily affecting tourism—can be lifted. Therefore during the winter the operators must monitor the snow situation in the catchment area, to calculate the amount of melt water expected and to comply with this requirement. The Walchensee along with other Bavarian power stations in the region produce 236 megawatts of power, translating to 1.3 billion kilowatt hours of clean energy to almost 400,000 Bavarian households as of 2010.^[1]

History

Oskar von Miller was the developer and designer of the construction of the Walchensee power station. He supported the electrification of the Bavarian railways (see also Mittenwald Railway) and the development of Bavaria. After long preliminary work, the Bavarian parliament agreed in 1918 to the construction of the power plant. Construction began in December 1918 and in 1924 the plant began producing electrical power, and the problem of transporting that power over long distances were solved with the introduction of overhead power lines.^[4] Demand for power was so great from the beginning that hydroelectricity could only provide a third of the required output, with the balance being supplied by traction engines. It was originally owned by the state-owned Bayernwerk AG (Bavarian Works Company). Bayernwerk was later denationalised and taken over by VIAG (Vereinigte Industrieunternehmungen) and as a result the power station is now operated by E.ON Wasserkraft GmbH.

World War II wind tunnel

For developing Nazi Germany's planned A10 rocket, a new Mach 10 wind tunnel was planned at the power station. The new powerplant was to use the 202 meter difference from the Walchensee down to the Kochelsee to generate 120 megawatts. However, instead of the new wind tunnel and powerplant, the Mach 4.4 wind tunnel used for V-2 rocket development was moved to the site following the 1943 Operation Hydra bombing of Peenemünde, and the new powerplant was completed after the war.^[5] The wind tunnel was moved to White Oak, Maryland, after the war.^[6]

Notes