Our Companies

Power station

Getzner is one of Austria’s pioneers in the area of power generation and

power supply. The company already converted the hydropower plants formerly

used to drive its machines to electricity generation as early as in the late

19th century, and new power stations have since then gone into operation.

Hydropower

With the electricity generated with the aid of hydropower, the Getzner power station makes an important contribution to environmental and climate protection. This kind of electricity generation consumes no resources whatsoever and utilises water as a source of renewable energy. Making use of water to generate electricity has a long tradition in Austria – almost two-thirds of the locally generated electricity is supplied by hydropower plants.

Power plants

The Getzner power station consists of four active power plants in Bludenz and Bürs that operate with hydropower. The Alvier plant at the egress of the Bürs gorge is one of the largest privately owned power stations in Austria. It is equipped with three turbines and has been in operation since 1910. The smaller power plants – Alvier plant II, Klarenbrunn upper level and Klarenbrunn lower level – are each equipped with only one turbine. The power plant is a distribution grid operator and the energy supplier for Getzner Textil and Getzner Werkstoffe.

Output of our power plants

Alvier plant: 5 MVA

Alvier plant II: 455 kVA

Klarenbrunn upper level: 767 kVA

Klarenbrunn lower level: 797 kVA

Distribution grid

Getzner, Mutter & Cie. operates its own distribution grid and supplies the companies Getzner Textil and Getzner Werkstoffe with electricity. The maximum output currently equals 7.1 MW. Nine transformers with capacities ranging from 800 kVA to 6.3 MVA have been installed for the operation of the power plants and the energy supply.

The 20 kV distribution grid has a total length of 6 km and guarantees an extremely reliable availability. The connections to the substation VIW Bürs that are necessary for the loop structure are operated by Vorarlberger Energienetze GmbH.

History

1856
At the upper spinning mill in Nenzing, the water wheel was replaced with a Girard turbine to power the factory’s machines.

First generator “Siemens Dynamo”, 1886

1886

With the aid of a direct current generator, the Klarenbrunn spinning mill was lit by electric lighting for the first time.

1896

The Mengbach plant was built in Nenzing – the first plant that was not located directly next to the factory but next to water. The energy generated by the generator was transmitted to the lower and the upper spinning mill via high-voltage power lines.

Mengbach plant, 1909

Alvier plant, 1932

1910

The Alvier plant, the largest of the four power plants in operation today, was built in Bürs and went into operation with two sets of machines in 1911. The third and largest turbine was added in 1925.

1922

The Alvier plant II near the Lünersee factory is the smallest of the power plants and went into operation in 1923 with the installation of a new turbine plant to meet the increasing electricity consumption.

Alvier plant II, 1988

1954/55

The contracts between Getzner, Mutter & Cie. and Vorarlberger Illwerke AG represented a milestone in the history of the power station and also secured the entire company’s future electricity supply.

Klarenbrunn lower level, 1968

1964

The new power plant Klarenbrunn upper level was built in Bludenz, and went into operation in 1964. Klarenbrunn lower level was built in 1968 and also went into operation that same year.

1984

The Mengbach plant in Nenzing as well as the power plants by the upper and lower spinning mill had to cease operations due to the transfer of the water rights to Vorarlberger Illwerke.

Tschapina intake, 2020

1999

Heavy rainfall caused an entire slope and street called Branderstrasse to slide downhill

near the Tschapina intake (Alvier plants). The intake had to be completely rebuilt.

2005

The Brunnenfeld intake (Klarenbrunn plants) was modernised due to damages in consequence of heavy flooding.

Brunnenfeld intake, 2020

Alvier plant, 2020

2010

The high-pressure pipeline was replaced to coincide with the Alvier plant’s centenary. The power plant was shut down for three months. The new pipeline made it possible to increase the maximum output to 4,800 kW.

2020

The new Alvier plant II, equipped with an Ossberger cross-flow turbine, went into operation in March 2020.

Turbine at the Alvier plant II, 2020