The VERBUND power plant Altenwörth is the most powerful power plant on the Danube and is located in the municipality of Zwentendorf and Kirchberg am Wagram. The mouth of the Traisen there has been completely redesigned and is Austria’s biggest land restoration area. In the coming years, the power plant will be equipped with Lower Austria’s longest fish pass.
Owner: VERBUND Hydro Power GmbH
Operator: VERBUND Hydro Power GmbH
Commissioning: 1976
Type: Run-of-river power plant
Country: Austria
Region: Lower Austria
Waters: Danube
Output: 328 MW
Annual output: 2,004,196 MWh
Turbine: Kaplan
Connectivity: Fish bypass
Turbines and generators: The powerhouse is equipped with nine 39,000 kW bulb turbine sets. With an impeller diameter of 6 metres and four blades, the turbines are amongst the bigger ones on the Danube.
Transformers: The plant has three 135,000 kVA block transformers for raising the voltage from 7.75 kV to 235 kV.
Weir system: The barriers for the weir system comprise six 24 metre-wide pressure segments with weir gates, which were installed in sections due to their size.
The Altenwörth power plant was built between 1973 and 1976, and was jointly financed by Energie AG Oberösterreich, Salzburg AG and VKW.
Just in time for the holidays, the maintenance of machine 8 at the Danube power plant in Altenwörth was completed. This means that machine no. 8 in Austria's most powerful river power plant is fit for the coming years. We take a quick look inside the enormous plant and take you to the 6-metre-high impeller.
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The Danube power plant Altenwörth is barrier-free thanks to Lower Austria’s longest fish bypass. As the operator of the power plant, VEBUND is additionally improving the bathing quality of the old course of the Danube at Altenwörth in cooperation with the market municipality of Kirchberg am Wagram. The fish bypass connects land restoration projects on the Danube and its tributaries, thereby boosting the diversity of species in the Danube. Construction of the fish bypass will start in autumn 2019 and should be completed in 2021.
During construction of the Altenwörth power plant in the 1970s, the confluences of the rivers Kamp, Traisen and Krems were realigned and straightened. In particular, the Traisen, one of Lower Austria’s biggest rivers, was extended by 7.5 km to flow into the Danube downstream of the power plant. The riverbed has since run in an even, straight line through the floodplain between Traismauer and Zwentendorf. This section of river offered little habitat for typical animals and plants and was not connected to the surrounding landscape or the bodies of water in the floodplain. The ability of fish to pass through the area was complicated by obstacles and in some places impossible. After three years under construction, the biggest land restoration project “EU-LIFE+ Traisen” was completed in 2016.
The Danube power plant Altenwörth is barrier-free thanks to Lower Austria’s longest fish pass. As the power plant’s operator, VEBUND is additionally improving the bathing quality of the side arm of the Danube at Altenwörth in cooperation with the market municipality of Kirchberg am Wagram. Together with fish-friendly measures in the area of the “Gießgang” in the headwaters of the Greifenstein power plant, the project “LIFE+ Network Danube Plus” is thus being created.
