The Hnevkovice Small Hydro Power Station

The Hněvkovice Hydroelectric Power Station forms a part of the Vltava Cascade, and is related to the Temelín Nuclear Power Station project.

The Hněvkovice Hydroelectric Power Station forms a part of the Vltava Cascade, and is related to the Temelín Nuclear Power Station project. The water reservoir contains 22.2 million m³ of water, its water surface covers an area of 312 hectars, and it raises the water level on a 18.6 km long stretch of the Vltava River, all the way to the weir at Hluboká nad Vltavou, near the town of České Budějovice. The water reservoir provides hydro-potential for the semi-peak-load power station, and primarily serves as a reservoir of process water for the Temelín nuclear power station. For this latter purpose, an efficient pumping station and a 110 kV switching station were built on the left bank near the water reservoir and the power station.

The Hněvkovice water reservoir was built between 1986 and 1992. The concrete gravity dam is 16.5 m high and on its crest runs a 191 m long roadway connecting the two banks. Built in the dam are three 12 m wide spillways blocked by steel gates with an electric drive, the bottom base outlet, and building part of the lock chamber. The hydroelectric power station is situated in the left-bank part of the dam, and is equipped with two sets of Kaplan turbines.

They are placed in the concrete extension of the dam heel. The generator shafts are protected from bad weather conditions by steel covers. As a classic river power station, it has intake stop logs, trash racks, 4.3 m x 6 m steel blanking plates, concrete suction pipes, turbine pits, and outlet stop logs. A cleaning machine is installed at the intake point to operate the trash racks. Electricity with 6.3 kV voltage is carried from the generators directly to the switching station of the pumping station for the Temelín power station. The hydroelectric power station’s operation is fully automatic. It is remotely controlled from the control centre of the Vltava Cascade at Štěchovice which also monitors the operation of the nearby Kořensko hydroelectric power station downstream.