Turbinenrad im Kraftwerk Langweid ©Martin Augsburger/Stadt Augsburg
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Power plant Langweid

Built in 1906 along with the first extension of the Lech canal, this plant still produces electricity. It is also home to the Bavarian Lech Museum, which features the river in all of its multifaceted development.

Building history and description
  • Hydroelectric power plant, still in operation today
  • community Langweid, Landkreis Augsburg; Lechwerkstraße 19
  • Start of sewer excavation 1898
  • Commissioning 1907
  • two-story superstructure of the empty shot 1938
  • first replacement of three turbines in 1957
  • second exchange of three turbines and all generators in 1993
  • Opening of the Lechmuseum Langweid 2008
  • Castle-like brick building in the style of historicism (strongly based on the power plant in Gersthofen)
  • elongated, two-storey solid construction with single-storey side wings
  • Facade in exposed brickwork with pilasters and white decorative elements
  • Round arched windows with steel rungs
  • longitudinal building with flat roof
  • three-storey buildings to the east and west with hipped roofs covered in beaver tail
  • self-supporting machine hall with 10.5m height and 13m width with filigree riveted steel truss girders and crane runway in 8m height
Einlaufkanäle am Kraftwerk in Langweid ©Martin Augsburger/Stadt Augsburg
Inlet
Kraftwerk in Langweid ©Martin Augsburger/Stadt Augsburg
Begehbarer Auslaufkanal im Kraftwerk in Langweid ©Martin Augsburger/Stadt Augsburg
Disused running-out
Auslaufkanäle am Kraftwerk in Langweid ©Martin Augsburger/Stadt Augsburg
Running-out
Stillgelegte Turbine im Kraftwerk in Langweid ©Martin Augsburger/Stadt Augsburg
Disused turbine
Use and purpose
  • Hydropower plant for power generation (first for company, then for region)
  • Switchgear in overbuilding of the lock (unknown year)
  • Administration and former control room in the west wing (control from the power plant in Gersthofen today)
  • Technical Equipment
    • One 1907 Francis turbine
    • One 1907 Siemens-Schuckert-generator
    • One Kaplan turbine with vertical wave from Voith
    • One 1938 Siemens-Schuckert bell-ring generator
    • three AEG generators from Escher Wyss
    • three Kaplan turbines from Escher Wyss
  • Power station on the Lech Canal built in three sections from 1898-1922
  • Foundation of the Lechwerke 1903
  • Lech Canal was extended by 2.5 km to Langweid until 1906
  • Power plant as an object of the UNESCO nomination stands for:
    • Further development from small-scale to industrial scale
    • Further development from a simple waterwheel to a highly effective turbine
    • early replacement of mechanical transfers of hydroelectric power in the region by electrification
    • Early replacement of local hydropower and electricity generation by decentralized run-of-river power plants
    • Use of renewable energies benefits the environment,
    • "Augsburg tradition" of sustainability as a global role model
Authenticity and unique features
  • Construction-time turbine as a showpiece (good traceability of the functioning of a turbine and the water supply), coupled to construction-time generator
  • Turbine and generator from 1938 also preserved (still in operation today)
  • Modernization of the three middle machine sets in 1993
  • Use as a Lechmuseum
  • technical equipment as a cross-section of the hydropower plant technology of the entire last century
  • Providing technical development to a well-preserved, exemplary hydropower plant