Efficient Endemic Endless 1 195 1365 2400 1 235

Aa
Meiringen-Innertkirchen-Train (MIB)
Gelmer funicular
Trift aerial cable car
Tälli aerial cable car
Handeck – Gerstenegg aerial cable car
Oberaar aerial cable car
Sommerloch aerial cable car
Sidelhorn aerial cable car
Reichenbach funicular
re
1
9
1
go
rge
H
3
a
Innertkirchen
s
2
622 m ü. M.
a
G
4 5
m
d
e
Handeck – Hotel and Nature resort
Hospiz – Historic Alpine hotel
Visitors’ Centre
3 Oberaar – Restaurant and Mountain Hut
4 Bäregg – Alpine hut
2303 m
Speichersee
Oberaar
Trübtensee
Stausee
Grimsel
1909 m
Sustenpass
Steingletscher
3
1
2400
Gigawatt hours of electricity. The KWO produces this
amount of energy annually in its eleven power plants,
usually as peak and regulating energy – produced exactly
then, when it is needed.
Sustenhorn
2
Oberhasli Hydroelectric
Company
Grimselstrasse 19
CH-3862 Innertkirchen
Telephone +41 33 982 20 11
www.grimselstrom.ch
This production volume represents the total annual energy
consumption of 1.2 million Swiss people.
Trift bridge
l
Grimsel Hotels
a
t
n
l
Oberalp / Gotthard / Tessin
e
G
Gadmen
Meiringen
megawatt capacity. So powerful are the eleven KWO power
plants with their 28 turbines. This enormous amount of
capacity is necessary to ensure that, at any given moment,
exactly enough power is being produced as is being used.
The high capacity pumps enable the KWO to store large
amounts of energy by pumping water up to higher lying
lakes.
Impressum 2014
Publisher: Oberhasli Hydroelectric Company, Innertkirchen
Editor: KWO Communication
Design: Atelier KE, Meiringen
Photos: KWO / Robert Bösch / Beat Kehrli / Daniel Göz
Printing: Stämpfli Druck AG, Bern
Translation: KWO Communication
Paper: Ecologically friendly & climate neutral production
9
4
1
ift
Guttannen
e r g
r b
t e
er
a
cubic metres of concrete. This huge amount of concrete was
needed to build our eight storage dams. These dams hold
back the huge amount of 195 000 000 cubic metres of water.
The ratio of concrete to storage volume is only 0,63 %.
n
tsch
i
gle
re
W
Aa
t
KWO Headquarters / Grimsel Hydro
1 235 450
Tr
2
i
U r b a c h t a l
1
At 114 metres, the Grimsel dam is the KWO’s highest. After
completion in 1932 it was, for a short time, the highest dam
in the world.
l
Dammastock
Wetterhorn
Ritzlihorn
7
G
au
li
Founded
1925
gl
9
et
7
sc
he
6
8
7
r
r
8
g
t
6
he
7
r
n
sc
6
Aare
l
a
2
Handeck
et
5
H a
s l
i b
e
gl
4
1365
1
Share Capital
120 million Swiss Francs
ne
3
Titlis
5
Shareholders
50 % BKW Energie AG
16 2/3 % Industrielle Werke Basel
16 2/3 % Energie Wasser Bern
16 2/3 % Stadt Zürich
Schreckhorn
Rho
2
195
Brünigpass
Interlaken / Thun / Bern
1
Totensee
Grimselpass
Speichersee
Gelmer
Aaretal
Handeck
Gaulisee
Mattenalpsee
622 m
Trift lake / catchment Gadmental /
Trift Power Plant
2 Grund Power Plant
3 Grimsel 1 E Power Plant
4 Grimsel 3 Power Plant
5 Enlargement Grimsel lake
6 Water diversion from Minstigerbach
7 Handeckfluh Power Plant
Tourism services in
the area of hydroelectric
power production
www.grimselwelt.ch
million cubic metres of water. So much water can be stored
in the KWO’s eight storage lakes. This energy storage relates
to the same amount of water that four million Swiss people
use per year.
8
1
Manufacturing company
for hydroelectric componants
www.grimselhydro.ch
percent of Switzerland’s surface area. Our catchment area
is this big. 700 million cubic metres of water fall annually in
this area of approximately 420 km2. The highest point is the
Finsteraarhorn at 4274 m. above sea level and the lowest
point is Innertkirchen at 622 m. above sea level. This altitude
difference gives the water the power to turn the huge
turbine wheels.
Storage dam
Intake conduits / penstock
Water catchment
Surge chamber
Luzern / Zürich / Basel
Expansion projects
Transportation
1
6
Gerstenegg
Bächlistock
Lauteraarhorn
5
Crystal cavern
Furkapass
3
10
7
Unt
2
eraar
gletscher
5
3
4
11
N
Finsteraarhorn
4274 m ü. M.
Oberaarhorn
Ob
er
gle
aar
tsch
3
4
2
Grimsel Hospiz
4
160
kilometres of tunnels. The largest part of the KWO’s installation lies hidden, deep in Grimsel granite – power plants,
surge chambers, water conduits, penstocks, tunnels for
energy transport and access tunnels.
500
employees (352 fulltime) work for the KWO. The wide structure of professions range from power plant technology to
tourism. This range of professions is exceptionally valuable
for the alpine region of the Oberhasli.
Grimselpass
8
6
1
Gotthard / Tessin
Oberaar Lake
57
Trübten Lake
1
Grimsel Lake
94
Toten Lake
2
Räterichsboden Lake
25
Gelmer Lake
13
Mattenalp Lake
2
Engstlen Lake
1
Total195
KWO Associated divisions
Aare
3
4
5
6
7
8
11
Speichersee
Räterichsboden
Volume
in million
cubic metres
2
10
Innertkirchen
Storage Lakes
1
Guttannen
Speichersee
Trift
Gadmental
Sustenpass
Fuhren
105
Hopflauenen92
Innertkirchen 2
62
Innertkirchen 1
255
Innertkirchen 1 E (from 2016)
150
Handeck 1
100
Handeck 2
136
Handeck 2 E (from 2016)
90
Handeck 3
55
56
Grimsel 1
67
Grimsel 2
348
363
Total
1365424
Wenden
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10 11 2
Gental
1
InstalledMaximum
turbine capacity
pump capacity
in MW
in MW
1850 m
Engstlensee
Power Plants
Gletsch
Sidelhorn
23
Oberaar
er
6
t
r a
g
r
a
A
Water catchment area
Intake conduits
Access tunnel
Nufenen / Brig / Lausanne
apprenticeships. The KWO offers a wide range of apprenticeships; poly-mechanic, electrician, motor vehicle mechatronics technician, facility caretaker, cable car technician,
constructing engineer, office administrator and even apprenticeships in the hotel industry. This range is exceptional
for an alpine region.
Efficient
Endemic
Endless
Grimsel 2 – largest pump-storage plant in Switzerland
Grimsel Hydro – Hydroelectrical Competence Centre
Gauli Waterfall – thundering natural power
Lake trout in a residual flow reach
Gelmerbahn – once for the KWO’s workers, now a tourist attraction
Grimseltor Innertkirchen – Village Centre with Tourist Center
PIONIEERING SPIRIT
DYNAMIC
NATURAL POWER
PARTNERSHIP
ADVENTURE
ALPINE REGION
The history of the KWO goes back to 1908 when pioneering
spirited engineers came to the Grimsel and recognised the area’s
inherent hydroelectric potential. In 1925 the first hydro dam
was built – the highest in the world at that time. With entrepreneurial courage and vision those pioneers succeeded in utilizing
the water’s potential for the production of electricity. This
pioneering attitude still remains today, and is the basis for continual innovation, coupled with a commitment to sustainability.
Switzerland is in the throes of an energy change, moving
towards sustainable energies. The KWO, with its large
capacity plants, already plays an important role in this
regard. New power plants are in the process of being built
in Innertkirchen and Handeck and further projects with
increased output are in the pipeline. Energy production
and storage volume. In keeping with the company’s own
historical past, the KWO continues to invest with a long
term horizon.
The landscapes in the Grimsel and Susten areas are magnificent and literally full of energy – the source of our hydroelectricity. The interaction between trusted machines and
modern technology enable the KWO to react quickly to
produce electricity when required. The alpine power plants
play a deciding role when it comes to balancing the erratic
energy supply caused by solar and wind power plants –
instantaneous, immense, efficient and emmission free.
The symbiosis between nature and technology is evident in
the landscapes in the Grimsel and Susten areas. Harnessing
the power of water is based on a partnership with nature.
The KWO is the first power company in Switzerland to have
its own ecology department and is committed to landscape
maintenance and biodiversity. The legally required valorization of the waters used for the production of electricity
has been carried out. Electricity production can be called
sustainable here.
The KWO’s power plants are open for visitors and you can
visit this underground world of tunnels, shafts, caverns, turbines and generators. Find out more about the technology
behind hydrolectricity. And above ground the KWO also has
lots to offer: mountain lifts which were once solely used to
transport KWO workers are now open to the public and can
take visitors up to storage lakes and structures such as the
Trift suspension bridge or the historic Grimsel Hospiz. Just
two examples of the many destinations in the Grimsel and
Susten area.
The KWO would not move anywhere else for all the money
in the world. The company has a close connection to the
alpine world in the Oberhasli. Only here are the natural
requirements at hand; only here is an abundance of water
combined with granite bedrock and high altitude differences. As one of the largest employers in the area, the KWO
also has an important socio-economic role to play, maintains
many diverse cooperations with regional partners and is
committed to regional development.
Hydroelectricity is partnership with nature
MATTERHORN
MONT BLANC
ALETSCHHORN
FINSTERAARHORN
4274 m ü. M.
JUNGFRAU
MÖNCH LAUTERAARHORN
SCHRECKHORN
WETTERHORN
WELLHORN
BRIENZER ROTHORN
H
OBERAARSEE
A
S
L
I
T
A
L
INNERTKIRCHEN
622 m ü. M.
S
G
O
M
GRIMSELSEE
GRIMSELPASS
RÄTERICHSBODENSEE
TOTENSEE
GELMERSEE