Mühleberg hydropower plant

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Mühleberg hydropower plant
Power plant with weir bridge in winter 2010
Power plant with weir bridge in winter 2010
location
Mühleberg hydropower plant (Switzerland)
Mühleberg hydropower plant
Coordinates 588 272  /  202018 coordinates: 46 ° 58 '9 "  N , 7 ° 17' 4"  O ; CH1903:  588272  /  202018
country Switzerland
place Mühleberg
Waters Aare ( Wohlensee )
Height upstream 480.9  m above sea level M.
power plant
owner BKW energy
Start of planning 1910
construction time 1917-1920
Listed since 2000: ISOS No. 931
technology
Bottleneck performance 40 megawatts
Average
height of fall 		17-19 m
Expansion flow 301 m³ / s
Standard work capacity 157 million kWh / year
Turbines 6 × Francis turbine
1 × Kaplan turbine
Generators 6 × 50 Hz (national network)
1 × 16.7 Hz ( rail network )
Others
Website BKW

The Mühleberg hydropower plant is a run-of-river power plant on the Aare that went into operation in 1920 ; the dam of the power plant is the Wohlensee .

history

Power plant construction site: construction pit of the machine house
The two trucks of the overhead line operation
Aerial photo by Walter Mittelholzer (1920–1937)
Exposed concrete facade of the machine house

The Mühleberg hydropower plant was the first large river power plant in the canton of Bern and when it went into operation it was one of the most modern power plants in Europe. The decision to implement the project was made in 1910, shortly after BKW was founded. The driving force behind the project was the economic politician Eduard Will from Nidau , the then director of BKW. The plans for the power plant came from the Polish hydraulic engineer Gabriel Narutowicz , who held a chair at ETH Zurich . It was to be his last great work before he returned to his homeland.

In December 1917, the 50-year license for the power plant was granted by the Bern government. The city of Bern was pursuing a competing project that included a dam at the mouth of the Gäbelbach near Hinterkappelen. However, the city's objection to the BKW flashed before the federal court.

Construction began in the autumn of 1917, even before the concession was granted. At times over 1000 workers were employed on the construction site. A barracks village was set up for the workers, the machinists and engineers were housed in residential buildings that continued to be used after the construction site was over. The power plant construction was difficult due to a lack of staff during the First World War and the Spanish flu . Two floods from the Aare and the state strike also disrupted construction work.

To transport the building materials from Gümmenen train station to the construction site near Buttenried, an overhead line truck operation with two vehicles was set up: the Gümmenen – Mühleberg trackless railway . The weir was built with caissons , the machine house was built in a construction pit secured by sheet piling . The building, in the style of industrial classicism, was designed by the architect Walter Bösiger , who used exposed concrete for the first time in Switzerland .

The main work on the power plant was completed in the spring of 1920, so that the Aare could begin to be dammed. On August 23 of the same year, the first turbine went into operation, and in 1965 an additional turbine was installed to generate traction power.

In 2002 the railway machine was overhauled, in 2004 and 2006 the weir and weir bridge were renewed.

technology

The machine house and the weir are combined into one structure. When operations began, there were six Francis turbines for generating 50 Hz electricity in the 120 m long and 20 m high machine room . Each turbine had an output of 8,100 hp (6 MW). The Kaplan turbine , which was added in 1965, has an output of 8.83 MW.

location

Mühleberg hydropower plant (the power plants on the Aare between Bern and Lake Biel)
Red pog.svg
Location map of the power plants between Bern and Lake Biel.

literature

Web links

Commons : Mühleberg hydroelectric power station  - collection of images

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Mühleberg power plant . In: Inventory of Swiss sites worthy of protection (ISOS) . ( admin.ch [PDF]).
  2. ↑ a b Hans Ulrich Schaad: This dam changed the landscape forever. In: Berner Zeitung.
  3. ↑ Bernische Kraftwerke AG BKW . In: Swiss engineer and architect . tape 104 , 1986, pp. 347 .
  4. ↑ 3rd day. In: Physics study trip. Carl-Zeiss-Gymnasium Jena, June 17, 2015, accessed on May 1, 2019 (German).
  5. ↑ Federal Office of Energy (Ed.): Statistics of the hydropower plants in Switzerland . January 1, 1928.
  6. ↑ E. Meyer, p. 314
  7. ^ BKW AG: Mühleberg hydropower plant: Revision of the turbine for SBB traction current. June 25, 2002 .;
  8. ^ BKW AG: Mühleberg hydropower plant. Retrieved May 1, 2019 .
  9. ↑ Federal Office for Energy (Ed.): Statistics of the hydropower plants . 1st January 1973.