New hydropower plant protects nature as well as the climate<\/p>\n
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The world’s first shaft hydropower plant has gone on stream in Germany. As well as producing green energy, the plant is also kinder to the natural environment than conventional hydropower plants. The turbine is concealed in a shaft in the river bed. Fish can pass freely over the power plant on their migration downstream. The new plant concept was developed at the Technical University of Munich (TUM). \t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
A source of renewable energy, hydropower plants can contribute to climate mitigation efforts, but they also cause problems for the natural environment. In conventional run-of-river power plants, the water is diverted to a power house in order to drive the turbine. This strong current can drag fish towards the plant turbine and grids, where they are at risk of being injured or killed. Natural habitats, fish migration routes and riverbank landscapes are damaged. Therefore, the environmental standards for new plants are virtually impossible to fulfill in Germany and many other countries.<\/p>\n
A team at the Chair of Hydraulic and Water Resources Engineering at TUM decided to develop a hydropower plant that would have a significantly lower impact on the natural environment. With this new plant design, there is no need to divert the course of the river. Instead, a shaft housing the turbine and the generator is dug into the river bed upstream of a weir. The water flows into the shaft, drives the turbine, and is then returned to the river under the weir. A smaller part of the water flows over the shaft and past the weir.<\/p>\n
The engineers have managed to control the current so that the power plant can efficiently produce electricity while minimizing the formation of vortices in the shaft. Numerous tests on a prototype have shown that most fish are able to swim safely over the shaft. What is more, two openings in the weir allow them to migrate downstream unharmed, while upstream migration is facilitated by an ordinary fish pass.<\/p>\n
How the shaft power plant works<\/strong><\/p>\n