Aftermath of Flood Events - Flooding led to the immobilization of hydroelectric facilities.
EnBW's water power plants found themselves affected by the flood that occurred during the first weekend of June. Out of 29 plants situated on the Neckar river, only 6 remained in service, as mentioned by a spokesperson. Similarly, only 14 out of EnBW's 24 small water power plants on rivers such as Danube, Jagst, Glatt, Murg, Kocher, Nagold, Enz, and Untere Argen were continuously producing electricity. The power plant on the Iller river had to be shut down entirely. The production primarily took place in the Black Forest rivers, which weren't severely impacted by floods. The Rheinkraftwerk Iffezheim's machinery was also in operation.
Physics played a major role in this scenario. The EnBW spokesperson elaborated that since Einstein's principle "more mass, more energy" isn't applicable to intense floods and run-of-river power plants, rising water levels in dams upstream of power plants led to no height difference. Without a height difference, the water cannot generate enough energy to power the turbines. Moreover, floods carried enormous amounts of debris, which obstructed the turbines before the power plants. The removal of such debris often required hundreds of cubic meters per site.
The discharge, or the amount of water passing through a measuring point in a given time, revealed the intensity of these floods. At the Kocher river (Pegel Kocherstetten), discharge increased by approximately 24 times within a day - from around 20 cubic meters per second to 480. This flood can be classified as a 50-year flood. The Neckar-gauge at Plochingen also doubled its flow rate within 24 hours, going from 80 cubic meters/second to 850. However, it took two and a half days for the maximum value of 973 cubic meters per second to occur. Standard values vary at around 50 in these areas, leading to the realization that this flood was, indeed, a 50-year flood.
Initially, there were preventive measures in place, including the installation of floating beams, additional pumps, and the implementation of high water gates. However, the intensity of the flood necessitated extra personnel. Employees willingly resigned from their leisure time to contribute to the emergency response measures. Double staffing was used, and large amounts of water needed to be removed from buildings, not to mention the rubble that had to be taken care of.
Minor damage, such as creased railings, was witnessed. However, 3 machines with flooded lower turbine guide wheels had to be cleaned. All plant components, whether it be dams or machine parts, underwent post-flood inspections.
