Small power plants Burgdorf BE
The small power plants Burgdorf BE are ten small hydropower plants in the town of Burgdorf in the canton of Bern ( Switzerland ). Eight of them are in operation (as of 2020).
The small power plants are mainly powered by water diverted from the Emme River . The absorption volume of the individual plants ranges from 1 m 3 / s to 5.5 m 3 / s, the electrical power generated from 13 kW to 170 kW. Seven of the ten power plants are located one after the other on the same line (initially industrial sewer, then called Mühlibach), the other three on side lines (Polierebach and Lyssachteilbach). The total gradient (upstream of the first to downstream of the last power plant) is around 25 meters. At the end, the water from the main line and the Polierebach is channeled through a culvert in the Emme to the right side of the river for further use in Kirchberg .
history
With the exception of a power station that was rebuilt at the end of the last century, all of the factories are part of former mills and textile companies and are privately owned. At the beginning of the 1920s, the use of hydropower in Switzerland experienced an upswing. "This is also the case in Burgdorf, which at the time had a canal system that was more than two hundred years old, investments were made in the electrification of small hydropower plants."
The small power plants are operated by the Burgdorf Hydropower Cooperative. The purpose of the cooperative is to use the hydropower of the Emme and the small hydropower of the Luterbach flowing into the Emme from the left in Oberburg . It regulates the flow of water and creates and maintains the necessary supply and maintenance facilities for the concession-based use of hydropower in the Burgdorf canal system.
Web links
- Burgdorf hydropower cooperative
- Urs Egli: The turbines are still standing still. bernerzeitung.ch, September 22, 2017.
Individual evidence
- ^ River in Burgdorf. Building Directorate of the City of Burgdorf, 2008.
- ↑ Urs Egli: New life for the old turbine. bernerzeitung.ch, April 23, 2015.
- ^ Burgdorf Hydroelectric Power Plant Cooperative. Commercial register office of the Canton of Bern, registered on May 17, 1946.