Rieden power plant
| Rieden power plant | ||
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| location | ||
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| Coordinates | 47 ° 29 '16 " N , 9 ° 44' 24" E | |
| country |
Austria Vorarlberg
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| place | Bregenz vineyards | |
| Waters | Bregenz Oh | |
| power plant | ||
| owner | illwerke vkw AG | |
| operator | illwerke vkw AG | |
| Start of operation | 1891 (new system 2005) | |
| Shutdown | 2004 | |
| technology | ||
| Average height of fall |
6 m | |
| Expansion flow | 8 m³ / s | |
| Standard work capacity | 5.9 million kWh / year | |
| Turbines | First Jonval turbine, lastly double Francis turbine (new system double regulated Kaplan turbine ) | |
| Generators | originally direct current generators (new system synchronous generator) | |
| Others | ||
| Website | www.illwerkevkw.at | |
The Rieden power plant is a run-of-river power plant operated by illwerke vkw of the discharge power plant type and is located on the premises of illwerke vkw in the Weidach district of Bregenz in Vorarlberg on the orographic right-hand side of the Bregenz Ache .
History and technical development
Under the direction of the textile industrialist, inventor and electrical pioneer Friedrich Wilhelm Schindler , the company Jenny & Schindler, the legal predecessor of Vorarlberger Kraftwerke AG (VKW), built the original Rieden run-of-river power plant in 1891 on what is now the premises of illwerke vkw AG in Bregenz-Rieden. The purpose of the power plant was to supply electricity to the Jenny & Schindler textile works in Kennelbach . The system also formed the starting point for Vorarlberg's first public power supply.
To extract the primary energy, the Bregenzer Ache was dammed upstream from Kennelbach with a large weir (discharge point, location ) and the water for the power plant was directed in an approximately 3 km long, open works channel past the Jenny & Schindler and Kennelbach textile factory to Rieden. There they used the gradient of over six meters and the water inflow of eight thousand liters per second with the help of a Jonval turbine and provided an output of 175 hp (approx. 129 kW ) with two direct current generators .
In 1901 the Jonval turbine was replaced by a Francis turbine with a standing shaft (500 hp). A 500 HP piston steam engine with three flame tube boilers (Cornwall boiler) was installed to bridge periods when there was little water. In 1902, three generators were mechanically operated in parallel on the turbine, each machine supplying its own power supply (no parallel operation, one machine for Rieden, one for Kennelbach and the third for the city of Bregenz). Due to the steadily increasing demand for electrical energy, the steam power plant was in continuous operation alongside the water power plant. The originally planned reserve operation at low water could not be maintained.
In 1914, the hydropower plant was rebuilt to increase its output and the simple Francis turbine was replaced by a horizontal double Francis turbine with a total of 800 hp. The power plant last equipped with this now rare double Francis turbine was in operation almost continuously until 2004. The turbine is still partially preserved, the former generator (and the house generator) are now part of the exhibition in the Bregenz powerhouse.
Current facility
The new Rieden hydropower plant was built in the immediate vicinity and has been feeding 5.9 million kilowatt hours into the grid every year since June 2005. In the standard small power plant, a double-regulated Kaplan turbine (850 kW at 273 rpm) drives a 22-ton synchronous generator (955 kVA at 6300 volts ) at a usable head of 7.0 meters . Parts of the existing upper and lower water canal in Bregenz-Rieden could continue to be used. This enabled a compact and cost-effective solution for the new power plant.
