Iffezheim Rhine power plant

By building the fifth machine at Iffezheim power plant, EnBW is continuing to pursue its aim of expanding hydropower as an important domestic energy source and adding new capacity. This tradition dates back decades. Today, 10 percent of the electricity generated in EnBW’s energy mix comes from renewable hydropower. By 2020, we want to increase the share of renewable energy sources in EnBW’s energy mix to 20 percent.

With this commitment, EnBW is making an active contribution to environmental protection and climate change mitigation. In 2008, we were able to prevent the emission of 6.7 million metric tons of carbon dioxide that would have been produced by fossil fuel power generation.

The addition of a fifth machine will increase the previous annual production figure at Iffezheim power plant from approx. 740 million KWh to around 870 million KWh, making it possible to supply more than 500,000 people with renewable electricity from hydropower in the future..

Adding a fifth machine at Iffezheim power plant will change the technical data as follows:

EnBW’s balanced energy mix – which consists mainly of coal, nuclear power, natural gas and renewable energies – is the basis for guaranteeing its customers a safe and reliable energy supply. There has been a long-standing commitment to hydropower at EnBW and it will continue to play an important role in the generation strategy in the future.

Hydropower capacity in Baden-Württemberg has been almost completely exhausted, however, and hardly any new locations can be developed. EnBW’s aim is therefore to optimally maintain the existing hydropower plants with their generation potential and continue to expand them wherever possible – not only in Baden-Württemberg, but also in Turkey and in selected European countries.

In addition, wind power will play a key role in the energy mix of the future – on land and on the high seas. EnBW is active in both fields. With four large offshore wind farms in the North Sea and Baltic Sea, we are currently undertaking the most important wind energy projects in Germany.

Due to its various advantages, hydropower is currently the world’s most important source of renewable electricity. It consumes no primary energy sources – such as coal, oil or gas – and therefore does not release any carbon dioxide. Water is also a particularly reliable energy source that can be stored and controlled and has a high degree of efficiency that surpasses other forms of renewable energy.

EnBW directly operates 67 hydropower plants and also owns interests in other pumped-storage and run-of-river power plants.

Rheinkraftwerk Iffezheim (RKI) GmbH was founded in 1973 on the basis of a contract agreed in 1969 between the French and German governments. RKI GmbH, a subsidiary in which EnBW Kraftwerke AG (KWG) and EDF each own a 50% stake, operates the Iffezheim and Kehl hydropower plants on the German side of the Upper Rhine.

Iffezheim power plant was commissioned in 1978. The program of measures set out by the International Commission for the Protection of the Rhine in 1987 included a plan to build a fishway. The Iffezheim fishway – one of the biggest in Europe – has been in operation since June 2000.

In 2008, a decision was taken to expand the RKI by adding a fifth turbine. With a new total output of 148 MW, one of the biggest run-of-river power plants in Western Europe is set to be built in Iffezheim by 2013.

The Rhine and its banks will not need to be reconfigured when a fifth machine is added at Iffezheim power plant. Since the new structure is located below the surface of the site, it is barely visible and thus has no negative impact on the Rhine landscape.

Nothing will change in terms of the region’s recreational value as a result of constructing the fifth turbine at Iffezheim.

In the area of the Rhine power plant in Iffezheim, shipping traffic is separated from the power plant by upstream and downstream moles. Just like the previous operation of turbines 1–4, the fifth turbine will only be started up when warranted by the water volume of the Rhine. Accordingly, shipping on the Rhine will remain unaffected during normal and routine operations.