In the upper Murg Valley near Forbach in the northern Black Forest, EnBW Kraftwerke AG operates the Rudolf Fettweis plant (RFW), which was built in two stages (1914/1926). As part of the planned modernisation of the site, its great potential is to be better exploited.
The project involves the expansion of the Forbach site by adding two pumped storage power plants (upper stage and lower stage). Both should utilise the existing Schwarzenbach dam as a storage reservoir, one as a lower reservoir and one as an upper reservoir. However, the new upper stage with a planned capacity of 225 MW was postponed after the design planning due to the economic conditions for pumped storage plants.
The new lower stage consists of a pumped storage plant with a capacity of 54 MW, which will replace the existing Schwarzenbach plant, and the new power plant facilities of the Murgwerk with a capacity of 23 MW. The Schwarzenbach dam and the existing upstream waterways, including the surge chambers of both power plants, can continue to be used almost unchanged. New vertical tunnels leading to the power plant cavern, in which the variable-speed pump turbine and the 3 Francis turbines of the Murgwerk will be housed, are connected to the surge chambers. An underground water reservoir with a storage volume of 200,000 m³ will be built to expand the existing equalisation basin.
Construction of the new lower stage is scheduled to begin in early 2024. Tractebel Hydroprojekt is in charge of the planning consortium and is providing the planning services for the structural facilities of the power plants and for the above-ground structures.
Client: EnBW Baden-Württemberg AG
Processing period: 2012 - ongoing
Main data:
PSW upper stage:
Cavern power plant
Nominal output: 225 MW
Drop height: 320 m
New upper basin with 2.1 million m³ of pendulum water volume
PSW lower stage:
Cavern power plant
Nominal output: 54 MW
Drop height: 360 m
Underground reservoirsexpansion by 200,000 m³
Murgwerk:
Cavern power plant
Nominal output: 23 MW
Head: 150 m
Services:
Upper and lower stage:
Variant study and preliminary planning
Design planning
Lower stage:
Approval planning and monitoring of the planning approval procedure
Tender planning and preparation of tender documents
Participation in the award of contracts
Ausführungsplanung für die Bauleistungen