Europe | European insights
IWP&DC takes a whistlestop tour across Europe looking at new hydropower and dam developments across the continent
Austria The 89MW Gemeinschaftskraftwerk Inn power plant
is the largest newly built run-of-river power station in the Alpine region and generates almost 440GWh/yr. It was developed as a joint project between the Swiss municipality of Valsot and the Austrian municipality of Prutz. It.
Above: Scanning tagged fish - Verbund 2023
Over in Altenwörth the project team of LIFE Network Danube Plus, which works to connect the habitats between Verbund’s Danube power plants at Altenwörth and Greifenstein, has been carrying out more studies at Lower Austria’s longest fish pass. Although this has been in operation for a year, extreme periods of high and low water have recently restricted testing, but the team has now set to work with the goal of fitting 10,000 fish with electronic chips. Records show that some fish have even managed to make it as far as the lock of the Aschach power plant in Upper Austria, more than 200km away.
France The French government has recently carried out
extensive consultation to support pumped storage projects while in November 2022, one of the Pelton runners of the Grand Maison power plant was replaced, the third out of four so far. The new runners have been upgraded from 156MW to 170MW, providing around 9% more power generating capacity.
Greenland AFRY has teamed up with the engineering consulting
Below: The Altenwörth fishpass in Austria - Verbund 2023
companies NIRAS from Denmark, and Inuplan from Greenland, and been awarded with a client consultancy contract for the expansion of the Buksefjorden hydroelectric plant. Greenland’s largest hydroelectric power station, Buksefjorden supplies electricity to the country’s capital city, Nuuk, which has recently experienced significant population growth and thus increased demand for electricity.
The existing hydroelectric station was built in 1993 and expanded with a third turbine in 2008. The latest expansion will consist of two new units, a new cavern and tunnel systems that will also connect an additional lake to the plant via a 16km-long transfer tunnel. This will connect the current intake at Lake Kangerluarssunnguup Tasersua to Lake Isortuarsuup Tasia, increasing the available volume of water from 352 to 1248Mm3
. Energy production will be enhanced
from the current maximum of 255GWh annually up to a future capacity of potentially 660GWh. It is hoped that the work will be completed at the beginning of 2029.
Italy
Described as an interesting example of how retrofitting non-powered dams can create new sources of renewable electricity with strong community buy-in, the 3.6MW Palestro project on the Sesia River has been built on an existing water barrage that regulates water flow in the rice fields of Northern Italy. Developed by Edison using a crowdfunding programme involving local communities at a cost of €10m, it is described as being a first for the country. While Aruba, Italy’s largest cloud provider, is reported
to have acquired two hydroelectric power plants in the province of Bergamo with a total capacity of 2MW. The new plants – Paladina and Ponte Briolo – share the same water intake on the Brembo river and are joined by a private adduction canal. These add to Aruba’s network of hydroelectric power plants which has an expected annual output of approximately 50GWh. Such hydropower acquisitions are part of the Aruba
Group’s broader strategy to continue investing in and increase renewable energy production. The company says that as energy consumption in the IT sector continues to grow at a high rate, it is more essential than ever to aim for maximum energy efficiency and the production of energy from renewable sources.
Ireland
EU Member States have given the green light to invest €602 million of EU funds in eight cross-border energy infrastructure projects. In Ireland, the Silvermines hydropower plant will receive €4.3 million for researching and setting up a pumped storage facility at a historic mining site that will help reduce price volatility, contribute to market stabilisation and increase the flexibility resource of country’s electricity system.
Norway
Last year Norway commissioned 25 five small hydropower plants with a total capacity of 163MW and expected annual production of 530GWh. The two most significant planned plants are Smibelg (33MW) and Tokajjelet (27MW). Other developments include Hydro Energi signing a long-term power purchase agreement with Statkraft
22 | September 2023 |
www.waterpowermagazine.com
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53
