Lake Walchen Power Plant
| Walchensee power station | |
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 Location of Walchensee power station in Germany
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| Country | Germany |
| Location | Walchensee, Kochel |
| Coordinates | 47°37′54″N 11°20′15″E / 47.63167°N 11.33750°ECoordinates: 47°37′54″N 11°20′15″E / 47.63167°N 11.33750°E |
| Status | Operational |
| Commission date | 1924 |
| Owner(s) | Uniper Kraftwerke GmbH |
| Pumped-storage power station | |
| Upper reservoir | Walchensee |
| 6 | |
| Lower reservoir | Kochelsee |
| Hydraulic head | ca. 200 m |
| Generating units | 8 |
| Pump-generators | 0 |
| Pumps | 0 |
| Power generation | |
| Nameplate capacity | 124 MW |
| Capacity factor | 27.6% |
| Annual output | 300 GW·h |
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Website www |
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The Walchensee Power Plant (German: Walchenseekraftwerk) 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 14 kilometres (8.7 mi) from the village of Walchensee. It is one of the largest of its kind in Germany.
The power station uses the hydraulic head of about 200 metres (660 ft) between the Walchensee (acting as the upper reservoir, at 802 metres/2,631 ft above sea level) and the Kochelsee (599 metres/1,965 ft a.s.l.) to generate electricity. Through six, 450-metre (1,480 ft) 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.
The Isar, which flows as a whitewater river from the Austrian part of the Karwendel mountains, is dammed between Mittenwald and Krün by a weir to form the Krüner Isar reservoir (870 metres/2,850 ft) and is then diverted to the Walchensee. This water flows past the Krün hydroelectric plant in an open channel, through a culvert, under the B 11 road at Wallgau and then via a tunnel to the Sachensee lake (867 metres/2,844 ft). Here a 3.9 kilometer long begins. At the end the water enters the hydro-electric power plant at (795 metres/2,608 ft), propels the turbines, and finally flows into the lake.
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Wikipedia