Aqua~Media International Ltd is the publisher of The International Journal on Hydropower and Dams, and the organizer of the HYDRO, ASIA and AFRICA event series.
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- 18-20 November 2024
- Messe Congress Graz (MCG), Austria
Study Tours
Austria, with its extensive experience of large and small hydropower and pumped-storage development, and with around 60 per cent of its electricity coming from hydropower, has a number of recently commissioned projects, plans for many more, and is Europe’s most active country for pumped storage, with four major projects under construction.
POST-CONFERENCE STUDY TOURS
The opportunity to visit a variety of dams and powerplants will be offered on two study tours currently being planned. One tour can be taken as a one- or two-day trip, and the other will be a longer journey with more visits, and is currently planned as a three-day option.
Tour A: One or two days
For those with limited time to spare after the conference, we have arranged for several small and micro hydro sites to be visited within Graz, one of which is to be commissioned this year.
This will also form the first day of a two-day trip. Those continuing for the second day will visit the Feistritz- Ludmanssdorf run-of-river plant, one of a cascade of 10 plants on the Drava river in Carinthia. Since 2007, all 10 plants in this group, between Spittal and the Slovenian border, have been managed together by the Drava central control room. At Feistritz-Ludmanssdorf, two Kaplan units generate an average annual output of 351 GWh. Of special interest at this scheme is the fish migration system, and various ecological measures which have been taken.
Tour B: Three days
The first visit will be to the 210 MW Wallsee-Mitterkirchen plant on the Danube, where a project has been underway by Verbund to upgrade the efficiency by replacement and upgrading of machinery. Output has increased by about 12 GWh/year.
A 17 MW open-field solar installation supplements generation at the site. To support the grid frequency, a ‘Blue Battery’ has up to 10 MW of spare capacity available, from the production at the Wallsee- Mitterkirchen hydro plant. A new PV facility at Wallsee-Mitterkirchen, which covers an area of 3 ha, has a maximum capacity of 1.7 MW, with enough annual production to supply about 600 households.
The group will then travel on to Salzburg for an overnight stay. Next morning there will be an opportunity to tour the stunning city of Salzburg, including its castle, and a boat trip on the Traunsee may be possible, before the next technical visit. This will be to the14.5 MW Stegenwald conventional run-of-river scheme, under construction on the Salzach river. The overnight stay will be at Zell am See.
A highlight of the tour, on the next day, will be a visit to Verbund’s 480 MW Limberg III pumped-storage scheme, part of the Glockner-Kaprun power complex, west of Salzburg. The power cavern is being built into the mountain next to the existing powerplants of the ‘Kaprun Upper Stage’ (Limberg 1 and 2) and will be connected to the existing Mooserboden and Wasserfallboden reservoirs with a headrace tunnel. Limberg III will be equipped with two 240 MW variable speed pump-turbines, and is due for completion next year. The tour will also include a visit to Limberg II.
Touristic visits will be incorporated within the tours and will be detailed on the next update, when technical visit timings have been confirmed.
All tours will return to Graz in the late afternoon. Full details of the tours, logistics and precise itineraries will be posted on line shortly, so please check our website for updates.
