Walchensee Hydroelectric Power Station

The Walchensee Power Plant is a hydroelectric power station in Bavaria Germany. It is a storage power station that is fed water from the Walchensee which is then released into the Kochelsee. The installed capacity is 124 MW with an annual production of 300 GWh. The power plant is located south of Kochelsee, about from the village of Walchensee. It is one of the largest of its kind in Germany.Technical operationThe power station uses the hydraulic head of about between the Walchensee (acting as the upper reservoir, at 802m above sea level) and the Kochelsee (599m a.s.l.) to generate electricity. Through six, 450m ducts connecting the two natural lakes, the water flows to the hydro-electric plant's four Pelton water turbines with single-phase generators, and four Francis water turbines with three-phase generators, and then exits into the Kochelsee. Because the water level constantly changes, neither lake fully freezes in the winter; what does freeze on the lakes is potentially hazardous thin ice. The natural outflow of the Walchensee at Niedernach — over the Jachen to the River Isar — is blocked by a weir, but the natural inflow to the lake is still insufficient to provide enough water to the reservoir for the operation of the power station, so the waters of the Rißbach river are also used.