Sulzau hydropower plant opens in Salzburg’s Oberpinzgau

The Sulzau hydropower plant in Neukirchen am Großvenediger, in Salzburg’s Pinzgau region, was officially opened on Friday, ORF reported. The project was built and is operated by Salzburg AG and the Neukirchen electricity cooperative.

The plant is expected to generate around 18.1 gigawatt-hours of electricity a year, enough to cover the annual consumption of about 5,000 households. It has an output of six megawatts and uses water from the Obersulzbach stream.

The project partners invested around 23.5 million euros in the plant.

The facility uses different turbines depending on water levels. A Francis turbine operates when water volumes are higher, while a Pelton turbine is used when flows are lower or fluctuate significantly.

Salzburg AG said the Sulzau plant continues its expansion of renewable electricity generation. The Stegenwald hydropower plant on the Salzach River entered service last year, while the planned Golling plant a few kilometres downstream was submitted for an environmental impact assessment this year.