The Vistula project

Country: Poland (Austria)
Year: 2010 — 2012
Customer: Ove Arup&Partners, International Limited
Category: Dam engineering, Hydropower engineering, Weir construction and navigation, Environmental engineering, Flood protection, Project management

Weir – gated, with a flap
Weir – width 455,6 m
Weir – total height 17,5 m
Weir – number of sluice openings 17
Weir – width of sluice opening 25 m

HPP – turbine type Kaplan PIT
HPP – diameter of drainage channel 5700 mm
HPP – head 7,6 – 3,4 m
HPP – number of machines 6
HPP – absorption capacity 2100 m3/s
HPP – output 60 MW

Navigation lock – class IV according to AGN
Navigation lock – width 12 m
Navigation lock – length 120 m

Fish pass – 2x technical, 1x terrestrial
Fish migration – salmon, sturgeon, Wimba wimba
Nominal discharge flow – 2×10 m3/s + 40 m3/s
Width of terrestrial fish pass – 40 m
Width of technical fish pass – 15 m + 8 m

The main aim of the new low-head dam is to stabilise the lower water level under the existing Wloclawek dam on the lower Visla River. Out of nearly 280 alternatives, 4 were chosen (or, as it may be, 2). The new dam consists of a weir construction (17 gates, each of a width of 25 m and gated with a radial segment gate with a flap); a hydropower plant (horizontal Kaplan turbine of the PIT type and installed discharge capacity of Qinst = 2100 m3/s and output of ca. 60 MW); a navigation lock designed for the navigation class IV according to AGN; a port for ice-breakers with an earth dam dikes up to a height of ca. 6 m; a terrestrial fish pass with a discharge flow of up to 40 m3/s and two fish ladders with a discharge flow up to 10 m3/s. All cosntructions serving for fish migration are designed for the salmon, sturgeon and Wimba wimba species.
Responsible for the technical solution proposal of a wide range of alternatives, detailed hydraulic assessment and hydroenergetic cylculations, project management with an international working team, co-operation of survey works, technical interpretation of the mathematical model of the Visla River, assignment and subsequent interpretation of the results of the physical model of the dam, which the local authorities misjudged as incorrect. Feasibility study, physical survey, zoning permit documentation.