The run-of-river power plant at Wallsee-Mitterkirchen on the Danube lies between the towns of Wallsee in Lower Austria and Mitterkirchen in Upper Austria. The turbines from the 1960s will be replaced in the coming years. This revitalisation will significantly improve the efficiency of the Danube power plant.
The six old turbines will be removed and replaced with new ones by 2030. At the end of the revitalisation, the power plant will provide additional generation for a further 15,000 households. The investment amounts to around 62 million euros.
An open-field solar installation supplements generation on the power plant site. The installed capacity is 17 megawatts. To support the grid frequency, the "Blue Battery" has up to 10 megawatts of spare capacity available – fed from the electricity of the Danube power plant Wallsee-Mitterkirchen.
Additionally, a new PV facility on the site of the Danube power plant Wallsee-Mitterkirchen, which covers an area of 3 hectares and has a maximum output of 1.7 MW, generates as much as electricity as is consumed by about 600 households every year. The panels align themselves automatically to the sun to supply the optimal electricity yield.
In February 2025, the first new Kaplan runner arrived at the Wallsee-Mitterkirchen power plant. The enormous turbine was installed in the narrow shaft in a complicated technical operation involving a heavy-duty ship and gantry crane. Details can be found in our press release.
As a major first milestone in the revitalisation project in Wallsee-Mitterkirchen, the first runner, which has a diameter of 7.8 metres and weighs 120 tonnes, was lifted inch by inch in a process that took several hours. With patience, skill and, above all, perfect teamwork, the first major operation in the revitalisation of the Danube power plant went off without a hitch.
At the kick-off for the ‘Revitalisation of Wallsee-Mitterkirchen’ project, VERBUND presented its ambitious plans for the Danube site between Upper and Lower Austria. By 2030, the six old turbines will be dismantled and replaced with new ones. Extensive preparatory work was necessary before the actual replacement of the runners could begin.
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The site is increasingly regarded as a centre of innovation: thanks to a new photovoltaic façade on the office building, a large-scale photovoltaic system whose modules can be aligned with the sun using a tracker system and a large battery that compensates for fluctuations in the electricity grid. If the electricity system requires a primary control reserve at short notice, this is largely provided at the site by the so-called ‘Blue Battery’, which is then charged directly by the hydropower plant. Only in exceptional cases, if the frequency deviations are too strong, is a turbine from the hydropower plant switched on for primary control.
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Not only future generations, but also very local, interested neighbours will profit from the energy transition. VERBUND shares the financial return from the Wallsee-Mitterkirchen PV system with the region. The basis for this is a successful partnership with Raiffeisenbank Perg.
The “Blue Battery” has been supplying electricity from hydropower in fractions of a second since September 2020. 61,000 lithium-ion battery cells supply a total output of 10 MW (8 MW primary control plus 2 MW power for load management). Fluctuations in the grid can be balanced with this at short notice. The battery is charged with electricity from the Danube.
At the VERBUND Danube power plant in Wallsee-Mitterkirchen, we are gradually renewing the machinery. We have documented the replacement of the enormous generator ring, which weighs over 200 tonnes. The massive and delicate load has to be lifted with millimetre precision. This requires concentration and skill from our colleagues.
Owner: VERBUND Hydro Power GmbH
Operator: VERBUND Hydro Power GmbH
Commissioning: 1968
Type: Run-of-river power plant
Country: Austria
Region: Upper Austria
Waters: Danube
Output: 210 MW
Annual output: 1,342,260 MWh
Turbine: Kaplan
Connectivity: Fish bypass
Powerhouse: The powerhouse has six main sets of machinery dating to 1968, each consisting of a Kaplan turbine with vertical shaft and a three-phase synchronous generator with a shielded design. The generators have a nominal power of 42,500 and 44,000 kVA, respectively.
Weir system: The fields of the weir system are equipped with double hook gates.
Locks: The lock gates at the upstream end were designed as a guillotine gate with double hook contactor, the lock gates at the downstream end as bolt gates with a back wall made of sheet metal.
Sorry, no hits were found.
Sorry, no hits were found.
The Wallsee-Mitterkirchen power plant was built between 1965 and 1968 in a large trench next to the original bed of the Danube. The “dry construction method” used in the construction of this power plant became the model for the rapid and economical expansion of hydropower on Austria’s rivers. The power plant is equipped with a fish bypass.
