The river Inn forms the border between Austria and Germany over a long distance. But hydropower plants can be connectors, such as the Ering-Frauenstein power plant, which builds a bridge for pedestrians between Bavaria and the Austrian Innviertel region.
The location of the power plant is also known for the adjacent Frauenstein Castle, which offers a wonderful rest area for the many cyclists along the Inn cycle path. There are not only sporting achievements to be seen here; the power of the Inn is also impressive: the Ering-Frauenstein run-of-river power plant has been generating electricity entirely from hydropower and supplying 97,000 households with green electricity since 1943.
Over the next few years, the power plant will undergo comprehensive modernisation, and ecological measures such as the construction of a fish bypass will also be implemented.
Owner: VERBUND Hydro Power GmbH, Innwerk AG
Operator: Grenzkraftwerke GmbH
Commissioning: 1943
Type: Run-of-river power plant
Country: Austria, Germany
Region: Bavaria, Upper Austria
Waters: Inn
Output: 73 MW
Annual output: 434,000 MWh
Turbine: Kaplan
Connectivity: Fish bypass
Turbines and generators: The powerhouse is equipped with three vertically installed Kaplan turbines, each with a rated output of 25,000 kW, which are directly coupled to umbrella generators with a rated output of 30,000 kVA each. The generated electricity is fed into the grid via three 30,000 kVA transformers which raise the voltage from 10.5 kV to 110 kV.
Weir system: Double hook gates with electric drive close the six weir fields with 18 metres of clear width each.
Pumping stations: Five pumping stations – Reikersdorf, Höft and Enknach on the Austrian side and Erlach and Simbach on the Bavarian side – ensure uniform water drainage in the air-side area of the dams and drainage of the seepage pipes.
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In the storage area of the power plant, there are large open areas and the bird sanctuary (Lower Inn European Nature Reserve).
The power plant does not yet have a fish bypass, but this should change by 2019. As part of the power plant’s modernisation, a bypass channel for the fish in the Inn was also constructed. The fish bypass will be carried out on a ramp, which will be heaped up against the Eringer dam, and will have the typical character of a flowing watercourse. It should reach a length of 2.6 km. It will also overcome a height difference of 10 metres.
At the same time as the fish bypass is set up, the dam root will also be structured. Floodplain habitats typical of the Inn, with an island side arm system, flat banks and old course structures, are in focus. The aim is to create more spawning grounds for fish and habitats for juvenile fish.
The ecological upgrade of stream landscapes with a green infrastructure is creating healthier ecosystems with greater species diversity and new habitats for these species. These four stream landscapes are the Große Kößlbach, the confluence of the Saagbach with the Danube, the Simbach and the polder area of the Weitbach and the Westerndorfer Graben. This project is funded by the European Region under the INTERREG V-A Programme Austria – Bavaria 2014 – 2020 (German only).
