The Walchensee Power Plant

A Technological Jewel of the Alps

Oskar Von Miller’s VisionDuring the World War I era this region of Germany had a very limited coal mine reservesOskar Von Miller advised that The Kingdom of Bavaria to consider building hydroelectric plants as it was the most ideal source of energy due to the structure of the landscape in the regionHis vision was to spread economic prosperity by supplying hydroelectric power across the entire state of Bavaria including its railways systemsBavarian state parliament decided to build The Walchensee Power Plant based on his proposal on June 21st 1918 and the turbines spun for the first time on January 24th 1918 with a capacity of 124 MW at the timeAs of today, The Walchensee Power Plant boasts a production of 300 GWh every year and still ranks as one of the largest water storage stations in Germany

The Walchensee System of Energy GenerationThe Walchensee Power Plant takes advantage of the altitude difference between Lake Walchensee and Lake KochelseeNearby rivers and channels were diverted to the higher altitude lake in order for it the be a permanent storage basin

The Isar weir (1) was incorporated into the system in 1924The Rißbach weir (3) was then later added in 1950

These channels produce regenerative electricity by first passing through the Obernach (2) and the Niedernach (4) Power stations before reaching the Walchensee Power Station through 400 meters of pipes below

Generating Electricity from Lake Walchensee

1. Water flows through a 1200 meter long tunnel that leads to the surge tank and pressure pipes

2. Water is deposited into a 10000 cubic meter water basin• The basin evens out fluctuations caused by the turbines turning on and off

3. Water then flows into six 400 meter pipes• Diameters: 2.25 m at the top and 1.85 m at the bottom• Pipe thickness: 10 mm at the surge tank and 27 mm at the power station inlet• Max pressure 28 bar and a net weight of 3600 tons

4. The 100 meter long engine room• 4 Francis turbines connected 3 phase generators that produce 18 MW/turbine• 4 Pelton impulse turbines connected to single phase generators that produce

13 MW/turbine used to power the German railways

5. Supply grid• Transformers converts the 6.6 kV from the generator to the main line voltage

of 110 kV

6. Discharge canal• Water from the turbine runners deposits into Lake Kochelsee

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2

3

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Technical Data

Isar Weir

Rißbach Weir

Pelton turbines inside of the engine roomWater pipes leading into the engine room