Usine de Chèvres

Usine de Chèvres
	location
Coordinates	494900 / 117700 coordinates: 46 ° 12 '9 " N , 6 ° 4' 37" O ; CH1903: 494900 / 117700
country	Switzerland Geneva;
place	Bernex , Vernier
Waters	Rhone
Height upstream	365 m
	power plant
construction time	1893-1899
Start of operation	1896
Shutdown	1943
	technology
Bottleneck performance	13.2 megawatts
Average ; height of fall	4–8 m
Turbines	15 Francis turbines from Escher-Wyss
Generators	9 generators from Compagnie de l'Industrie Electrique ; 6 generators from Brown, Boveri & Cie
	Others

The Usine de Chèvres is a former run-of-river power plant on the Rhone in the canton of Geneva . It was located on the border of the municipalities of Bernex and Vernier , north of the hamlet of Chèvres .

history

The power plant was built by the city of Geneva under the direction of city councilor and engineer Théodore Turrettini . Construction began in 1893. In January 1894, the dam and the machine hall were built according to the plans of the architect C. Butticaz. First six turbines and generators were installed. The power plant went into operation on April 27, 1896, in time for the Swiss National Exhibition in Geneva. Thereafter, nine more turbines and generators were installed from 1897 to 1899.

The entire system was dismantled in 1943 before the new Barrage de Verbois flooded the place.

technology

The turbines built by Escher-Wyss in Zurich consisted of two turbine wheels arranged one above the other, and depending on the water level, one or both of them was supplied with water. Nine generators were supplied by Compagnie de l'Industrie Electrique (CIE) , a predecessor of Ateliers de Sécheron , and six generators by Brown, Boveri & Cie .

Unlike the Usine des Forces Motrices de la Coulouvrenière , built in 1886 , which was used for the pressurized water supply, which was partly used to drive water turbines for local power generation, the Usine de Chèvres produced 2-phase alternating current , with little loss to the city 5 km away Geneva was headed.

The installed power was 18,000 hp (13.2 MW). When it was commissioned, the Usine de Chèvres was the largest run-of-river power plant in the world and the most powerful power plant in Switzerland. Electricity production enabled the city of Geneva to be illuminated electrically and the trams to be electrified .

literature

René Sauvin: Les centrales hydro-electriques sur le Rhône genevois . In: IN.KU-Bulletin 21, April 1997 (PDF; 154 kB)
Micehl Cuénod and Jean-Pascal Genoud: L'énergie . In: 'Encyclopédie de Genève. Tome 7. L'industrie, l'artisanat et les arts appliqués . Friborg 1989.

Web links

Commons : Usine de Chèvres - Collection of Images

Individual evidence

↑ André Ducluzaux: Transportation l'énergie hydraulique à distance, avant l'électricité (1830-1890) . In: La Houille Blanche . No. 4-5 , January 1, 2002, pp. 29 , doi : 10.1051 / lhb / 2002054 (end of first paragraph in second column).
↑ Genève à la force de l'eau - une histoire de l'explotation hyrdaulique (exhibition guide). Musée d'histoire des sciences, 2009, accessed October 8, 2015 (French).

[1] André Ducluzaux: Transportation l'énergie hydraulique à distance, avant l'électricité (1830-1890) . In: La Houille Blanche . No. 4-5 , January 1, 2002, pp. 29 , doi : 10.1051 / lhb / 2002054 (end of first paragraph in second column).

[2] Genève à la force de l'eau - une histoire de l'explotation hyrdaulique (exhibition guide). Musée d'histoire des sciences, 2009, accessed October 8, 2015 (French).