In the search for sustainable and flexible energy solutions, two ideas in Austria offer a fish-friendly, eco-smart twist on traditional hydropower.

Vienna

Austria is witnessing the development of innovative hydropower technologies designed to minimize environmental impact. The Power Buoy, created by Fritz Mondl, operates without dams or reservoirs and is anchored in rivers, using the current to generate up to 100 kilowatts of electricity. Another solution, the vortex power plant by Franz Zottlötherer, harnesses small drops in elevation and encourages the development of aquatic ecosystems, while also being designed to be fish-friendly.

Despite their promise, experts such as hydrobiologist Stefan Schmutz express caution regarding the ecological effects of these mini-hydro plants, particularly their influence on water systems. While these technologies cannot match the output of large hydropower stations, their low investment costs and ease of installation make them suitable for decentralized energy production, especially in areas with limited infrastructure. However, challenges remain, including regulatory hurdles and the unpredictability of water flow due to climate change.

Austria: New waves in hydropower solutions

The city of Linz in Austria, hidden away among trees here, is an invention that could revolutionize hydropower with no need for dams or reservoirs. The Strombeuer or Power Buoy is quiet, efficient and is designed to have minimal impact on nature. And while it's currently parked on land, its maker hopes it will soon be in action in the river Danube. The Power Buoy is a small hydropower plant that swims in the river, with just a chain anchoring it to the riverbed. It positions itself automatically with the help of the current. The water pushes through and drives the turbine, which with a maximum of 100 revolutions per minute should deliver the peak output of 100 kilowatts. Fritz Mondl has spent years testing and tinkering away on the technology. He says the buoy is designed to be fish-friendly and can cope with both flotsam and high water levels. And it could soon go into mass production. The Danube poses some very big challenges, not least how to deal with flooding, the debris and how to deliver the electricity in an economically profitable way while generating at a high level of efficiency. So it's all required an incredible amount of research. Some 200 kilometers downstream, the town of Korneuburg has been earmarked to host Austria's first Power Buoy park, which could supply electricity to several hundred homes. For Fritz Mondl, the technology promises huge potential beyond Austrian rivers, for example in Africa, starting with the Niger, Volta, the Nile, Zambezi and the Congo. Hydropower has a long tradition in Austria, with the Alps providing the elevation and the rivers the energy. Before the arrival of electricity, water mills harnessed the power of small rivers and streams. Franz Zottlötherer has devised his own vortex power plant that works with small drops in elevation. It looks like someone's pulled the plug in an oversized bathtub. When the water drains out of the basin, you're suddenly in a little ecosystem. This habitat develops on its own inside the vortex pool. There's water moss on the walls and here on the bottom, thread algae that help to filter the water. In layman's terms, imagine you enlarge the water surface and have a high flow speed there. You can then absorb a lot of oxygen from the air into the water. The moss growth on the walls and bottom is proof that the water quality really is improving. The vortex power plant can generate 55,000 kilowatt-hours of energy per year and is also designed to be fish-friendly, because the turbine blades have wide gaps to swim through. As we can see for ourselves, a few trout are swimming around. But when it comes to the ecological impact of these mini-hydro plants, hydrobiologist Stefan Schmutz is sceptical, especially about their influence on water systems as a whole. I wouldn't even say the vortex power plant has a positive effect. It alters the hydraulic conditions of the water body. It creates a bottleneck where all the water has to squeeze through. There have been a few tests to see if fish can pass through, and some did manage to, although the tests only involved a small number of fish of certain sizes. The vortex power plant and the power buoy cannot compete with the huge energy output of large hydropower stations, but their small size and relative simplicity of installation could give them the advantage in certain scenarios. I could imagine these two new technologies being suitable for areas with little existing infrastructure, because as far as I know, they can operate in a mini-grid. The investment costs are low. Although one crucial point with such projects is that these kinds of installations need to be properly maintained. Amidst Austria's well-developed hydropower network, the vortex power plant and the power buoy remain niche solutions, and bureaucracy poses additional hurdles. Fritz Mondl is currently in a dispute with former business partners, also over leasing areas in the Danube River for his planned buoy park, while Franz Zott-Lötherer is focusing on other markets where demand is higher and approval is easier to obtain. There are installations in place in Italy, Germany and the Czech Republic. We've got one in Bali, too. And we have a partner company in Japan that's already implemented a number of projects. The vortex power plant and the power buoy both show that even in established energy sectors like hydropower, there's still room for innovation. Combined with other technology, these approaches could deliver decentralized and eco-friendly energy, especially in more remote areas. Although there's always the major unknown factor, the water itself, because in these times of climate change, its amount and power are becoming increasingly unpredictable.

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