VERBUND improves flood safety in Kufstein

VERBUND is taking preventive measures to safeguard its hydropower plants for surrounding communities in anticipation of increasingly extreme weather events.

The floods of recent years deposited huge amounts of gravel in the reservoir of the Inn power plant Oberaudorf-Ebbs, which cannot be transported away by the natural flow. It is therefore necessary to remove much of this material, amounting to up to 400,000 cubic metres, from the bottom of the Inn in Kufstein municipality and transport it elsewhere. The goal is to continue guaranteeing increased levels of safety and ensuring the necessary reserves to prevent any chance of the reservoirs overflowing.

Although there is no acute threat at present, the project will be implemented with a sense of urgency over a period of four years. A similar measure was last carried out in 2008 to 2011. The work on the Austria side of the Inn is coordinated with the Federal Ministry (BML), the province of Tyrol, the town of Kufstein and all authorities, which have also granted the corresponding approvals. The project is supported in ecological terms by external specialists.

"Protection against floods takes top priority for our company. That is why the dredging works in the reservoir are a necessary and purposeful maintenance measure for ensuring the operational safety of our facilities and dams. VERBUND is investing over 16 million euros in greater flood safety here," summarises workgroup leader Andreas Auer.

Preparatory work commences in December 2023

The preparatory work will begin in December 2023 with the redesigning of the riverbank on the Inn over a distance of 200 metres on the Austrian side. Work in the river itself will then start in February 2024. The gravel will be removed with an excavator positioned on a work platform in the water and loaded onto a transport ship. It will then be unloaded on the right bank and taken to a 2.4 hectare intermediate storage area by conveyor belt. The excavation periods run from autumn to spring each year, and the material is gradually transported away by trucks.  The flood project will probably be completed in summer 2027 with the restoration of the used areas.

Inn power plant Oberaudorf-Ebbs

The hydropower plant Oberaudorf-Ebbs is a run-of-river power plant on the Inn, to the north of Kufstein between the municipalities of Ebbs (Tyrol) and Oberaudorf (Bavaria). The power plant has been in operation since 1992, has a capacity of 60 MW and generates electricity for approx. 73,000 households. A special feature of the power plant is the colourful fish pass, which was lovingly painted with pictures of fish and other aquatic creatures by children from the neighbouring villages.