As of: March 9, 2024, 6:00 p.m
By: Christiane Mühlbauer
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The Walchensee power plant has been producing electricity for 100 years.
© Arp/Archive
Since the power plant went into operation in 1924, at least ten billion kilowatt hours (kWh) of electricity have been produced for Deutsche Bahn.
The commissioning made railway history 100 years ago.
Kochel am See/Munich – The significance of the Walchensee power plant for Deutsche Bahn (DB) is now highlighted by the group in a press release as part of the “100 Years of Power Plant” anniversary.
Since the power plant went into operation in 1924 - it supplied a third of its electricity to the railway from the start - at least ten billion kilowatt hours (kWh) of electricity have been produced for Deutsche Bahn.
“This roughly corresponds to the annual electricity consumption of the city of Hamburg,” says the statement.
Over the past 100 years, DB has been able to save around five million tons of CO2.
In addition to the Walchensee power plant, the DB's own Bad Reichenhall hydroelectric power plant and the Kammerl hydroelectric power plant also produce green electricity for the railway.
The railway wants to be completely “green” by 2038
DB is already Germany's largest user of green electricity, the statement continues.
With more than 65 percent renewables in DB traction power, it is significantly above the public green electricity mix, with a current share of 56 percent.
By 2038, the entire DB traction power – ten terawatt hours per year – should be completely green.
To this end, the Group subsidiary DB Energie is fundamentally restructuring its portfolio of contract power plants and supply contracts.
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In long-distance transport, travelers have been using renewable energies since 2018, the statement continues.
“From 2025, all train stations, maintenance depots and office buildings in Germany will also be completely supplied with green electricity.” The hydroelectric power plant at Walchensee has been supplying “reliable green electricity for Deutsche Bahn for 100 years, long before the word green electricity even existed,” says Torsten Schein, Chairman of the Board of Directors DB Energie, quoted in the statement.
A look at history: This is how Bavaria was opened up by rail back then
The press release also contains interesting details about Bavarian railway history.
A permanent trial operation with hydropower and electricity for the railway had already taken place in 1903 on the route to Oberammergau.
With the opening of the Walchensee power plant, the route network around Munich was electrified, especially in Bavaria.
Not only on classic mountain routes in Werdenfelser Land and to Berchtesgaden, but also the long-distance routes from Munich to Salzburg and Kufstein benefited from the new power supply, says press spokeswoman Sonja Stötzel.
“The travel time on the Upper Bavarian east-west tangent was shortened from four hours to three hours and 15 minutes.” Compared to steam operation, the Reichsbahn, founded in 1922, was able to reduce travel time by around 13 percent for express trains, 18 percent for regional trains and even 29 percent for freight trains savings, which in the end also paid off economically, writes Stötzel.
“The Walchensee power plant provided the impetus for a broad modernization of the railway system.”
While at the end of 1925 around 1000 kilometers were in electrical operation on the Reichsbahn, two years later it was just over 1200 and at the end of 1929 around 1500 kilometers.
“The network in Bavaria was the most extensive at 700 kilometers – thanks to the natural resource of electricity from water from the many rivers and reservoirs.”