The existence and well-being of human beings and the success of companies are closely connected with the use of nature's "ecosystem services". The quality and stability of ecosystem services depends in turn on biodiversity. The preservation of biodiversity is therefore a central component of environmental protection and sustainable corporate governance.
Business sectors & activities
Biodiversity encompasses the diversity of individual animal and habitats as well as the genetic diversity within individual animal and plant species. Dramatic species extinctions are being observed worldwide. The loss of species, genes and habitats is impoverishing nature and threatening the very basis of human life. The existence and well-being of human beings and the success of companies are closely connected with the use of nature's "ecosystem services". The quality and stability of ecosystem services depends in turn on biodiversity. The preservation of biodiversity is therefore a central component of environmental protection and sustainable corporate governance. EnBW is aware of this importance and is willing to make its contribution. This is underlined by the anchoring of the topic in EnBW's environmental principles.
EnBW's business activities can have both positive and negative effects on biological diversity. Business sectors and activities that have a significant impact are:
- All types of electricity generation
- Transmission and distribution of electricity and gas
- Operation and construction of office buildings and other real estate
Bird protection in the electricity grid
EnBW also attaches great importance to the issue of bird protection in the overhead line transmission system. By the end of 2002, we had already completed bird protection measures on over 46,000 masts in our medium-voltage overhead line network, which is around 30,000 km long. Throughout the year and as an ongoing process, the existing bird protection measures are checked, upgraded and retrofitted where necessary. These bird protection measures have also ensured that, after an absence of almost one hundred years, white storks are once again breeding in Baden-Württemberg and the population has increased.
To ensure that this remains the case, Netze BW GmbH, EnBW’s distribution grid system operator, upgrades or installs bird protection measures such as perches, cover hoods and cable insulation, particularly during maintenance work on the distribution network. In a pilot project, conductor rope markings have additionally been installed to avoid collisions, primarily in the bird migration corridor and in the protected area. A total of 1,295 bird deflectors known as FireFlys were installed in 2020 – including outside of migration corridors. Since 2020, grid system operator Netze BW has worked in close and construction collaboration on bird conservation and bird reporting with conservation organisation NABU as a member of the Renewable Grid Initiative (RGI).
General bird conservation activities
Netze BW GmbH is also actively involved in bird protection measures directly on site. The focus here is on ringing actions, attaching nesting boxes and nesting holes on masts and providing nesting and breeding sites. Nesting platforms are attached to wooden masts in rural areas in particular where storks then build their nests. The measures are carried out in close cooperation with local bird and nature conservation associations - in certain cases also in consultation with the responsible regional council - and generally concern bird species such as the little owl, peregrine falcon, barn owl, eagle owl and stork.
Further activities
Activities for the protection of biodiversity in the transmission grid sector can be found on the website of TransnetBW GmbH, the transmission grid operator of EnBW.
Support programme "Impulses for Diversity"
Baden-Württemberg’s landscape with its diversity of flora and fauna is beautiful. However, many habitats of the local flora and fauna are endangered. Some amphibian and reptile species are also threatened with extinction and are on the "Red List" of endangered species. Baden-Württemberg is an amphibian and reptile state - home to 19 of the 20 amphibian species found in Germany and 11 of the 13 reptile species found in Germany. For this reason, we have a particularly high responsibility here in the south west to support our native amphibians and reptiles and their habitats.
Further information on the EnBW support programme (only available in German)
Hydropower and ecology
Hydropower contributes significantly towards the objectives of the European Water Framework Directive
Rivers are a key feature of our cultural landscape that people have adapted to their needs and significantly altered over time. Over the centuries, this has included draining swamps and eradicating malaria, land reclamation, river modification for year-round water transport – and the use of hydropower to generate energy. Alongside recreational and commercial fishing, tourism and shipping, hydropower is one of the largest river users.
By building fish ladders at hydropower plants, EnBW makes an important contribution to the objectives of the European Water Framework Directive.
Construction of a fish ladder at the Iffezheim barrage on the River Rhine made it possible for fish and small organisms to pass through the barrage. This is especially important in order to enable long-distance migratory fish such as salmon, sea trout, shad, and sea lamprey to reach upstream spawning grounds.
Fish ladders
EnBW is involved in the development of modern fish ladders. A fish ladder – also known as a bypass conduit or channel, fish pass, fish steps or fishway – can take the form of an artificial watercourse adjacent to a hydropower plant or engineered structure. All such structures allow fish and other aquatic organisms to migrate upstream to their spawning grounds and also to forage above the power plant.
Numerous EnBW hydropower plants now have fish ladders, either as engineered structures or as a bypass channel that mimics a natural waterway. For fish migrating downstream, state-of-the-art fishways have been retrofitted at numerous smaller hydropower plants. The fish ladders are equipped with counting and monitoring systems for ascending migratory fish.
With regard to hydroelectric power plants on larger rivers, there is currently insufficient knowledge to implement effective and functioning population conservation measures. EnBW is actively involved in the development of potential solutions, such as converting to fish-friendly turbines and designing alternative bar racks. In the meantime, EnBW promotes interim solutions such as the “eels on wheels” catch-and-carry approach on the River Neckar. There, sexually mature eels are caught with commercial fishing gear and transported to the Rhine.
At the Siglingen hydropower plant, the defunct existing fish ladder was replaced with a generously dimensioned 135-metre bypass channel leading around the plant. EnBW paid special attention to making the fishway nature-like, and the channel meanders like a natural stream. Rocks placed in the watercourse additionally serve as artificial obstacles, creating varied stream-bed and flow structures that both improve passability and provide high-quality habitats for small organisms.
At the weir of the Bad Teinach hydropower plant, the defunct fish ladder was replaced by a vertical slot fish passage. The four-metre height difference is overcome in the confined space at the weir by 26 interlocking concrete stepped basins.
Innovative solutions are sought and implemented to enable upstream and downstream fish migration at topographically and technically challenging sites. On the River Murg, innovative and alternative engineering solutions have been implemented in collaboration with other parties in the form of hydro fish lifts at the Kirschbaumwasen barrage and the Forbach pumped storage power plant.
Hydroelectric power plants help keep our rivers clean. The bar racks above the turbines capture large quantities of solid and plastic waste from rivers each year, which are then properly disposed of after being removed by the hydropower plant operator. Hydropower plants also actively contribute to flood control by absorbing and smoothing flood peaks. In the event of a barge accident, the resulting pollution load can be stopped or its spread/dilution retarded.
Fish descent device
Theoretically, fish can also use the fish ladders for the descent. Unfortunately, however, these are rarely found by fish migrating downwards. This is because many downward-moving fish swim with the current, behaving passively and saving energy. When descending, for example, they let themselves drift with their heads against the current downstream. In contrast to ascending, they do not hit a barrier and are therefore not forced to actively look for a way down.
In recent years, EnBW has been able to integrate functional fish ladders at a number of smaller hydropower plants. On larger rivers such as the Rhine and Neckar, however, the high flow conditions still present the engineers with considerable challenges.