Increased hydropower production and hydropeaking mitigation along the Upper Inn River (Tyrol, Austria) with a combination of buffer reservoirs, diversion hydropower plants and retention basins

Abstract

AbstractResearch on hydropeaking in Austria started in the 1990s and the implementation of the WFD stipulated large research projects since the year 2009. The first research projects supported the process understanding and in a second investigation step, measures were evaluated. The mountains in the region of Tyrol create large heads and thus support the production of flexible energy. In this region, TIWAG is operating 9 large (>10 MW) and 27 small (<10 MW) hydropower plants, with an installed capacity of about 1,550 MW and a mean annual production of 3,000 GWh. As the governmental energy strategy foresees an extension of the hydropower production in Austria, suitable options were selected in 2004 by TIWAG and the water management framework plan for Western Tyrol was developed. This strategic planning instrument proposes five large power plants, with a generation of 1,800 GWh/year of renewable energy, which enables to reach the WFD targets, because the concept includes hydropeaking mitigation by combining buffer reservoirs (impoundments), diversion hydropower plants, and retention basins. We present our promising concept of hydropeaking mitigation and exemplify this based on the GKI, a hydropeaking diversion hydropower plants (HPP) at the Swiss/Austrian border as well as the Silz hydropeaking retention basin, with a volume of about 300,000 m3. As the presented case studies are the largest measures for hydropeaking mitigation being currently implemented in Central Europe, they have pilot‐character. Thus, ongoing research and monitoring programs are expected to improve the knowledge about hydropeaking mitigation.