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Power plant at the Wolfzahnau
This power plant was built in 1903 at the confluence of the Lech and the Wertach rivers. It currently supplies 15,000 people with electricity. The four meter high flywheel power generator was exhibited as a symbol of the art of German engineering at the World’s Fair in Paris in 1900.
Building history and description
- Hydroelectric power plant, still in operation, in the nature reserve Wolfzahnau (area at the confluence of Lech and Wertach)
- Augsburg, between the districts Oberhausen and Firnhaberau; Wolfzahnau 1
- canal excavation (1100m) from 1900
- Commissioning of the first Francis turbine in 1901
- Completion of the power plant and installation of two more Francis turbines in 1902
- Installation of a Francis twin turbine over the former empty shot and installation of the flywheel from the 1913 Paris World Fair
- Installation of flood-proof generators and Kaplan turbines 1969
- Engineers Widmann and Telorac, architect possibly Karl Albert Gollwitzer
- Power plants on the Stadtbach, Wolfzahnau and Proviantbach originally belonged to the cotton mill on the Stadtbach
- Turbine and administrative building, symmetrical structure with three fields of equal size
- Blank brick construction in red and yellow with pilaster outline and arched openings
- Transformer house with tower-like saddle roof construction over square plan with lateral, lower attachments, blank brick construction
Bird's-eye view: The power plant on the Wolfzahnau
Use and purpose
- Hydroelectric power plant of the former Stadtbach spinning mill (area already acquired in 1867), then the company Dierig
- should combine water power from Proviantbach and Stadtbach (cement dam from 1900)
- incipient electrification of industrial plants, remote transmission of electricity (possible from 1891) made transformer and thus a transformer house necessary
- float lane 1913 rebuilt to empty shot
- through the outlet channel flow 39 cubic meters of water per second
- Technical Equipment:
- 5 m high flywheel generator from Siemens-Schuckert from 1913 as showpiece
- three Kaplan turbine with vertical wave
- 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
- Facade renovation 1997-1998
- preserved architectural monument in its best condition
- technical equipment partly preserved
- Today's use as a hydroelectric power station, residential and office buildings
- Energy generation is fed into the public grid today
- Nature Reserve
- The first power plant in the Augsburg urban area, which went into operation completely independent of an industrial location
- testifies to the increasing electrification of the industry around 1900
- Flywheel as showpiece of German engineering at the 1900 Paris World Fair (acquired by Baumwollspinnerei at the Stadtbach)
- In the outlet channel, all channels fed from the Lech unite
- Providing technical development to a well-preserved, exemplary hydropower plant
