Iffezheim Rhine power plant
EnBW has installed a fifth machine in the existing plant at its Rhine power plant in Iffezheim. With an installed output of 38 MW, it has been producing carbon-free electricity for around an additional 35,000 households every year since 2013. EnBW is thus continuing to play its part in exploiting the hydropower potential still available in Baden-Württemberg.
State-of-the-art technology for carbon-free electricity
Hydropower is currently the world’s most important source of electricity from renewable energies. It can be used permanently, consumes no primary energy sources – such as coal, oil or gas – and therefore does not release any emissions. With run-of-river power plants, even low gradients can be used with large flow rates.
This is how the run-of-river power plant works in Iffezheim
The Rhine is dammed in Iffezheim by a dam with a head height of around ten meters. The lock, the weir and the power plant are integrated into this dam. The water level in the reservoir area of the power plant is controlled by adjusting the turbine outflow. If more water is present than can flow through the turbines, the water level is controlled via the weir. In order to produce energy, the water is fed via the intake screen into the power plant to the four horizontal bulb turbines, whose impellers drive the generators via the turbine shafts.
Between them, the four impellers already in operation handle up to 1,100 m³ of water per second. The 400 m³ of water per second previously unused for power generation is currently being harnessed with the new fifth turbine. As it makes its way through the power plant, the water overcomes a height difference of about ten meters before flowing back into the Rhine.
The existing four turbines generate clean electricity for around 465,000 people. The addition of the fifth turbine in 2013 has made it possible to supply a further 75,000 people with carbon-free electricity since 2013. This cuts carbon emissions by a further 110,000 metric tons per year