Wallsee-Mitterkirchen: first impeller enters retirement

The first impeller was lifted out by the gantry crane, centimetre by centimetre. Each year, one of the six turbines, which were built in the 1960s, will be replaced. This will make the site fit for generations to come.

The first spectacular step in the machine replacement programme was successfully completed by the gantry crane at the Danube power plant Wallsee-Mitterkirchen. The impeller, which has a diameter of 7.8 metres and weighs in at 120 tonnes, had to be lifted centimetre by centimetre over a period of several hours. The task demanded maximum concentration and coordination between the team and the crane operator. Thanks to patience and skill, the first major operation in the revitalisation of the Danube power plant went off without a hitch. 

The impeller will be “temporarily stored” at the power plant site and then transported by ship on the Danube to Ybbs for recycling. The new impeller is currently being installed in the power plant there and is scheduled to be transported to its new location and lifted into place next year.

Turbine replacement “Wallsee-Mitterkirchen revitalisation”

The planned modernisation package will increase average generation at the Danube power plant, which was built between 1965 and 1968, by around 54 million kilowatt hours to almost 1.4 billion kilowatt hours. This means that 390,000 households will be supplied with domestic renewable electricity from the Wallsee-Mitterkirchen power plant alone.