Power station construction on the River Traun

Since 1899, electricity has been produced in the Upper Austrian town of Traunleiten near Wels. Despite continuous modernisations in the plant equipment and ecological measures, new investment was no longer economically viable according to its operator Wels Strom. For this reason, after the conclusion of several years of approvals process, the go-ahead was given for a major investment and thus the replacement construction of the run-of-the-river hydrostation. 

Largest power station project in Austria

"The construction site started in July 2017 with the preparatory works and the setting up of the construction site facilities", says construction manager Sebastian Holasek from Felbermayr technical civil engineering regarding the power station construction site, currently the largest in Austria. After that, the construction site was drained on both the upstream and downstream side with coffer dams. These were created with crushed stone, armour stone and in some cases also with sheet pile walls. In October, the initial excavation in the area of the new power station was started along with the demolition and earthworks for the new inlet structure of the water channel. The inlet structure now comprises three chutes in order to be able to guarantee the flow of 150 cubic metres per hour. In order to assure this desired flow rate, the maximum water level had to be raised by 20 centimetres for the approximately two kilometre long propulsion water channel. This resulted in an increase in the height of the associated dams as well as in increase in the channel profile. In addition, the gravel flushing sluice and parts of the channel base and embankments had to be sealed. The weir system was also renewed. This comprises two weir gates with a total length of 95 metres. 

The power station itself comprises the grate structure, the power house and an idle channel. "In the power house there are two horizontal Kaplan turbines, which can generate around 90 gigawatts of power each year and thus can supply a city such as Wels with power", explains Mr Holasek, adding that this represents almost double the installed power rating. The construction pit for the power house has been secured by means of bore piles, sprayed concrete and strand anchors. "The power house has a length of 84 metres, a width of 23 metres, a height of 32.5 metres and a drop height of 13.9 metres", says Mr Holasek citing the impressive dimensions. As if that was not enough, with a length of 70 metres, the grate system is also worth mentioning as it is the longest in Europe.
 
Ecological responsibility

In addition to the optimisation of the technical parameters, Wels Strom also places great importance on the further optimisation of ecological aspects. So, according to Wels Strom's managing director Friedrich Pöttinger, investment has been made in a modern fish ladder system in order to achieve better ecological passage. In addition, a 350 metre long resting area and spawning zone for water organisms has been erected above the weir at the head of the reservoir. Furthermore, a nesting mound has been created on the power station site, which is located inside the "Natura-2000" network and the "European bird protection area" and the tree stock has also been approximately doubled too. So, people and the environment both benefit equally from the replacement construction and this benefit will last through several generations.     

The base of the driving water channel was clad with sealing asphalt.

The construction pit for the power station was surrounded by bored piles.

The drop height of the two inlet structures is 13.9 metres.

After around two years of building time, the work on the erection of the replacement construction of the Traunleiten power station near Wels entered the home straight.

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