| Owner | VERBUND Hydro Power GmbH, Salzburg AG |
|---|---|
| Operator | VERBUND Hydro Power GmbH |
| Commissioning | 2025 |
| Type | Project, Run-of-river power plant |
| Country | Austria |
| Region | Salzburg |
| Waters | Salzach |
| Output | 14.3 MW |
| Annual output | 73,800 MWh |
| Turbine | Kaplan |
| Connectivity | Fish bypass under construction |
Stegenwald joint venture power plant: electricity from renewable energy for Salzburg
Stegenwald joint venture power plant
The Stegenwald joint venture power plant is a project of VERBUND and Salzburg AG for more electricity from the Salzach.
The Salzach has been reliably supplying electricity from hydropower for decades. With the Stegenwald joint venture power plant, around 20,000 more households can be supplied with electricity from clean, domestic hydropower.
The construction is not creating a classic reservoir in the area of Stegenwald. Instead, the Salzach will be retained as a flowing body of water and additionally widened. Nowadays, a modern fish pass is a part of the ecological standard.
Impellers successfully lifted into place
The shell construction of the main building of the Stegenwald power plant – a joint project of VERBUND and Salzburg AG – has been completed. Now the first heavy machine parts for the innovative run-of-river power plant are being delivered.
On Friday, 22 November 2024, the two turbine sets, consisting of Kaplan impellers, turbine covers and turbine shafts, were successfully lifted into place.
Work on the power plant continues
Work in the Salzach River at the Stegenwald power plant construction site has been suspended since the end of August 2024. The reason for the partial halt to construction was the decision of the Administrative Court (VwGH), which annulled the decision of the Salzburg Provincial Administrative Court regarding the positive nature conservation licence. On 2 October 2024, the Salzburg Provincial Administrative Court lifted the suspensive effect associated with the appeal proceedings, allowing all nature conservation-related work on the construction site to continue again. The main focus here was on ecological and safety aspects.
Press release on the lifted suspensive effect 
Measures remain in place in the Salzach
End of August 2024, the Administrative Court of Justice (VwGH) overturned the decision of the Salzburg Provincial Administrative Court based on the extraordinary appeal by the Provincial Environmental Ombudsman's Office (LUA) regarding the nature conservation permit due to formal reasons in the justification and not because of substantive failures on the part of the project applicants. The project operators VERBUND and Salzburg AG have spent the last few days carefully examining the impact of this decision on the Stegenwald power plant construction site.
Press release measures remain in place 
Half-time celebration at the Stegenwald power plant
The groundbreaking ceremony for the Salzach power plant in Stegenwald took place at the end of June 2023. It is an important building block in the energy transition and in future will generate as much clean electricity as 20,000 households consume on average per year. Yesterday, construction progress was celebrated with a small half-time party. Project operators VERBUND and Salzburg AG invited the mayors of the neighbouring communities and local residents to celebrate the smooth implementation of the project.
Press release for the Half-time celebration 
New mobile pump trailer for the Werfen Volunteer Fire Brigade
The Werfen Volunteer Fire Brigade is primarily responsible for the Stegenwald power plant, which falls within its deployment area. In order to reach the construction site quickly and safely in winter too, when there’s a risk of avalanches, the fire brigade was equipped with a mobile pump trailer by the project operators VERBUND and Salzburg AG. As a token of appreciation, there was also a cheque for EUR 3,000 on top.
Press release new mobile pump trailer 
Groundbreaking for Stegenwald
With a joint groundbreaking for the Stegenwald joint venture project, the project partners VERBUND, Salzburg AG and representatives of the province of Salzburg celebrated the start of construction. Salzburg's newest power plant on the Salzach can cover the annual electricity demand of 20,000 households with a capacity of 14.3 megawatts and an annual output of 72.8 gigawatt hours.
Press release on the groundbreaking at Stegenwald 