Saalach power plant Bad Reichenhall

Saalach power plant Bad Reichenhall
	Saalach power plant in Kirchberg
	location
Coordinates	47 ° 43 '6 " N , 12 ° 51' 47" E Coordinates: 47 ° 43 '6 " N , 12 ° 51' 47" E
country	Germany Bavaria;
place	Kirchberg
Waters	Saalach / Saalachsee
	f1
	power plant
operator	DB Energie GmbH
construction time	1910-1913
Start of operation	1914
	technology
Bottleneck performance	approx. 6.4 megawatts
Average ; height of fall	about 20 m
Expansion flow	Max. 60 m³ / s
Standard work capacity	40 million kWh / year
Turbines	5 Francis Kessel turbines with horizontal shaft, 2 impellers per turbine (clockwise and anti-clockwise) on one turbine shaft
Generators	8th
	Others
Website	http://www.dbenergie.de/

The Saalach power plant in Bad Reichenhall is a run-of-river power plant for generating traction current with a total output of approx. 7.5 MW . It is one of the oldest railway power plants still in operation in Germany. It is located in the Kirchberg district and is operated by DB Energie GmbH .

history

The power plant was built from 1910 to 1913 to supply traction power to the newly electrified Freilassing – Berchtesgaden railway line . The power plant receives the water from the nearby Saalachsee , which was created for this purpose. The official opening was on January 1, 1914.

The construction of the Kibling dam and the power station resulted in the numerous mill streams in Bad Reichenhall falling dry due to the diversion of the Saalach and, in addition to a number of mills, forges and saws, the municipal power stations I (Nonner Strasse) and II (Innsbrucker Strasse) were also abandoned had to be. For this reason, a transfer agreement was negotiated with the railway to compensate for these failures, which guaranteed that part of the electricity generated would be fed into the public utility network. This regulation explains why the traction power plant also generates 50 Hz mains electricity.

The power plant and the attached structures and the former service building are now under monument protection .

construction

Power plant and underwater canal from above

After the water law permit was granted on August 5, 1910, the Royal Construction Management for the Saalach power plant was established on September 1, 1910 . Work on the tunnel and the underwater canal began in autumn of the same year .

Barrier system

On March 4, 1911, construction of the barrier in Kibling began. After a flood in May 1912 had washed away part of the transport scaffolding and equipment, the assembly of the bottom lock (roller weir) by the Augsburg-Nuremberg machine factory was completed on May 10, 1913 . On September 20 of the same year, the reservoir area was cleared. The Atzenstadel property with a house, stable and barn was demolished in early 1913. The impoundment began on October 13, 1913.

stollen

The drive on the Kiblingen side began on October 3, 1910, the drive on the Kirchberg side began on November 10, 1910 and the breakthrough took place on April 20, 1911. The distance from Kibling is 350 meters, the distance from Kirchberg 224.5 meters. It is noted in the construction log that “the direction and height matched exactly”. At the end of 1911, the extension and walling were completed.

Intake structure

In May and June 1912, the structural work on the intake structure in the Bay of Kibling was carried out. In the spring of 1913 the contactors and the rake were installed.

Moated castle

The excavation work for the moated castle at the end of the tunnel on the Kirchberg side began in autumn 1910. The masonry only began after the powerhouse substructure and the powerhouse had progressed accordingly. The water gates were installed in February 1913.

Underwater channel

In the autumn of 1910, the construction of the underwater canal began. In the winter of 1910/1911, 25,500 m³ of excavated material was driven into the Trift grounds and today's Nonner Strasse to fill in the Reichenhall city streams and engine canals. The funding was in the direction of the power house. On March 12, 1913, the lower dam was breached and the canal was opened to the backwater.

Power house

The substructure of the power house could be built in the dry summer of 1911 without drainage. At the end of 1911, construction work began by the Schubert company from Reichenhall. On September 1, 1912, the machine shop for assembling the turbines was completed. On October 1, 1913, carpentry, locksmithing, plumbing and glazing work were finished.

Transformer houses

Trafohaus II ( Wacker House )

The construction of the transformer houses began in June 1912 and was completed in September of the same year. To the west is Trafohaus I, to the east is Trafohaus II. Trafohaus I is still in operation today, Trafohaus II (the former Wacker House ) is empty today and is used to park devices and vehicles.

Machine and electrotechnical systems

On September 1, 1912, the construction of the turbines and steel pipes began. In order not to have to interrupt the work in the new power house in the cold winter of 1912/1913, the machine hall was heated with several coke ovens . At the beginning of 1913 the switchgear and generators were delivered and installed. On November 5, 1913, the power supply to the city of Bad Reichenhall was started on a trial basis. The final commissioning took place in January 1914. At this point in time, an output of 300 kW was required for the entire city.

Notable events in 1914–1989

October 16, 1915: King Ludwig III. from Bavaria visited Bad Kirchberg, the power station and the barrier.
December 24, 1915: A locomotive caused a short circuit on the steep Bayerisch Gmain - Hallthurm line . This resulted in a pressure increase in turbine 2 and a break in the screw connections of the boiler halves. In a short time, the cable cellar and the machine foundation pits were flooded. The boiler halves were then riveted with double straps, turbine 2 was restarted on June 16, 1917 after repairs.
September 29, 1917: King Ludwig III. von Bayern again visited the power plant.
December 21, 1917: Commissioning of the 5th turbine and the 3rd three-phase generator
September 6, 1920: A strong flood crushed the rake at the intake structure. The floating debris got into the turbines, but there was no damage.
December 1921 and 1924: Due to persistent drought and severe cold, there were repeated bottlenecks in the power supply in the early years of the power plant, which led to power cuts in Bad Reichenhall and the surrounding area. The train service to Berchtesgaden was temporarily handled with steam locomotives.
February 10, 1930: The newly built 15 kV feed line to / from Traunstein was switched on. When there was little water available, 15 kV traction current could be used to deliver power to the city of Bad Reichenhall after conversion.
1929–1939: At river kilometer 24, an embankment channel was dug in. This served to avoid floods and to increase the drag force of the water. From 1948 on, the main dams were extended to the former center of the lake. In 1939, a power converter equipped with mercury vapor rectifiers was installed in the facility to couple the traction network with the public electricity network.
1941: The triangular raft in front of the intake structure was replaced by a rake cleaning system, in 1943 this was supplemented with a coating bar .
June 1, 1942: The Berchtesgaden – Königssee railway line was converted from direct current to single-phase alternating current with 15 kV and fed by the power station. Up to this point in time, it was fed from the Gartenau hydropower station near Berchtesgaden .
February 22, 1950: As a result of an increase in pressure in the air chamber (hydraulic oil pressure vessel) of turbine 3, the vessel popped, the repair lasted until March 13, 1951.
1947/1950: The turbine runners were replaced by the Voith company .
1951/1952: The power plant was connected to the 110 kV traction network.
1958: The renovation of the bottom and the slope reinforcement in the underwater canal was completed.
August 19, 1974: Heavy thunderstorms caused a flood wave and an unnoticed overflow of the lake of 70 cm. A carpet of tree trunks and driftwood about 3500 m² in size formed in front of the weir. Since the flood lock could no longer be opened due to flooding, the bottom lock was opened. The falling wood masses lifted the bottom lock out of the rack guides on both sides, the lock body positioned itself across and the lake emptied completely. On May 7, 1975, the repair work by the Freilassing depot was completed.

Barrier from the east, in the background the Müllnerberg

Partial renovation from 1988

Up to this point in time, the power plant supplied the city of Bad Reichenhall in island mode with electrical energy at a voltage of 5 kV. The rest of the city was supplied with 20 kV by Thüga Freilassing (now part of E.ON Bayern ). In addition to the technical overhaul of the systems, which are now 75 years old, the aim of the partial renewal was to convert the transformer station to 20 kV.

Switchgear

Due to the parallel operation with the public utility network, the switchgear was renewed in order to cope with the increase in short-circuit power . Therefore, new sheet-metal-encapsulated double busbar switch cells were installed.

Generators

In addition to the existing voltage regulators , the generators were equipped with a power factor regulator from ABB that is required for parallel operation . The winding insulation of the generator stator and the paper insulation of the stator plates had become brittle after the long period of operation. These components were replaced and technically revised. The rotor coils were in perfect condition. The renewal of the stator windings and the stator sheet insulation was carried out by Siemens (Essen branch).

Turbines

The five Francis twin turbines received new hydraulic actuators with fully automatic, electronic control. Due to significant signs of wear on the turbines and especially cavitation damage to the impellers , all turbines were subjected to a thorough overhaul. The running wheels with a cast steel rim and sheet steel blades were replaced by wheels made only of cast steel . By replacing the worn impellers, the efficiency improved by approx. 10%. The overhaul of the systems was carried out by the company WKA from Heidenheim.

Transformers

In order to reduce costs, the power plant's own supply was simplified. This eliminated the need for transformers, while others were replaced by new systems from AEG from Munich.

Inlet contactor and computer clearing system

Inlet structure on the Saalachsee with driftwood rake

The inlet contactor , which was not operational at the time , was repaired, and the simple computer clearing system was replaced by a remote-controlled system.

control

The control of the power plant was equipped with the latest technology and then offered the greatest possible functional reliability with four hierarchically structured control levels.

A manual emergency switch represented the first and lowest control level. This means that the power plant can be controlled mechanically if all other control levels fail.

The on-site control was the second, higher control level. This worked electrically, but also had to be operated manually on site.

The mosaic control panel was the third control level. With its programmable logic controllers (PLC) and monitoring and measuring devices, this could be seen as a fully-fledged, central remote control device with only minor drawbacks compared to the highest control level. In addition to the need for a temporary conversion, its area of application was the central emergency remote control.

A computer-controlled control system formed the fourth and highest control level. Using the most modern data processing technology at the time, the control system had access to all signals from the marshalling panel and, via the interface to the third control level, it had options for execution right down to the lowest electrical switching devices.

Residual hydropower plant

Since the approx. 1.8 km long diversion section of the Saalach from the Kibling dam to the mouth of the underwater canal dried up completely due to the complete diversion of the water into the power plant, except for a few flood days per year, the power plant was expanded in 2005 to include a residual hydropower plant directly at the dam of the Hall axis added, which in normal operation year-round releases an amount of approx. 5 m³ per second into the old river bed. The minimum specified amount of water is 3 m³ and the maximum amount to be dispensed is 6 m³. This measure serves to improve water ecology and the landscape.

Todays use

The Saalach power plant continues to supply electricity to both the railways ( DB Energie ) and the Bad Reichenhall municipal utilities. So it is possible for the citizens of the city to obtain green electricity ( Mein Saalachstrom ) from the local power plant via the Stadtwerke .

The Saalach power plant is not open to visitors , but guided tours are often offered on the Open Monument Day .

description

The water derived from Saalachsee is an inlet structure and a 576 meter long pressure tunnel in a water lock passed above the power station. From there, it is directed to the turbines via five downpipes with a diameter of 2.6 meters each. After passing the turbines, the water is returned to the Saalach via a 620 m long underwater canal.

f1 Map with all coordinates: OSM | WikiMap