Hydro-electric power plant
The French-German agreement signed in Paris in 1969 led to the construction of the locks and hydro-electric installations on the Rhine in Gambsheim. Operation began in 1974.
Operating company: CERGA (affiliate of EDF and EnBW)
Location: Kilometer stone 309 on the Rhine from the exit of Lake Constance (PK Rhin 309)
Equivalent of the annual consumption in electricity of half of the residents of Strasbourg
The hydro-electric power plant, equipped with 4 horizontal bulb generator sets, produces on average 650 million kWh a year in terms of renewable energy without greenhouse gas emission.
The smaller hydro-electric power plant linked to the fish ladder, which first operated in 2006, produces an extra 3 million kWh a year.
Since the opening of the Iffezheim fish ladder in 2000 and the Gambsheim fish ladder in 2006, the large migratory fish (salmon, sea, trout, etc) can pass by hydro-electric installations. They are now able to return to their birthplace, and/or the zone of their reintroduction and to reproduce in the tributaries of the Vosges and the Northern Black Forest.
Vistors information:
> The hydro-electric power plant is under an anti-terror plan since 2001. These security conditions do not allow visitors to have guided tours on the site or have access to the plant.
