Annabrücke power station

The Annabrücke hydroelectric plant stands on the Drava River in Carinthia, Austria. It is the largest station in the Drava cascade, built between 1977 and 1981. The dam required 4.8 million cubic metres of earthworks and 114 000 cubic metres of concrete. Its reservoir stretches 14 kilometres along the mountain valley and covers 3.5 square kilometres. Dredging added 1.8 million cubic metres of depth to increase storage. Three spillway gates sit on the southern side of the dam, while the powerhouse on the left bank houses two Kaplan turbines supplied by Voith. Generators from Elin convert the flow into electricity. Together they produce about 390 million kilowatt-hours each year. Beside the main dam, plans in the mid-2010s called for fish channels to restore the river’s natural ecosystem. The site sits between the Ferlach-Maria Rain plant upstream and the Edling plant downstream, linking two stretches of the Drava.