Nor do the buoys interfere with shipping or kill fish. Problems that have long held the technology back, such as clogging of the turbines by plants and debris in the river, have been overcome. He has already ordered one of Aqua Libre’s buoys to power his 100-bed hotel.Īnd apart from being unobtrusive, a key selling point of this new technology, its proponents say, is that it is the only source of renewable energy that works 24 hours a day and without the need for heavy infrastructure. “Thank goodness we did, because we live off tourism now,” he said. “Forty years ago we successfully fought against a hydroelectric dam here,” said Christian Thiery, owner of a Wachau hotel and restaurant at Durnstein, where English king Richard the Lionheart was famously imprisoned in the 12th century. Mankind has long harnessed the awesome kinetic energy of rivers, most notably with hydroelectric power, the first plant being built at Niagara Falls in the United States back in 1879.īut even though the technology produces no climate-changing greenhouse gases, which the Paris climate talks aim to reduce, building the vast dams necessary nowadays is politically tricky, particularly in Europe. In time, the aim is for all the 30,000 inhabitants of the UNESCO-protected valley, its steep slopes covered in vineyards and dotted with centuries-old castles, to get their power in this way. We’re just waiting for mass production,” he said.Īccording to Fritz Mondl, co-president of Aqua Libre, the Austrian firm that has spent the past 10 years developing the technology, this stage should begin next year. “We have obtained all the necessary permits to have nine of them, and we don’t plan to stop there. So far, three prototype river turbines producing between 40 and 80 gigawatts of electricity have been tested in the Wachau, but Nunzer has ambitious plans. Below the waves is a turbine turned by the fast-flowing waters of the Danube, one of Europe’s main waterways. The idea is to place in the river what looks on the surface like the top of a submarine but is in fact a 6-ton buoy producing enough electricity for 250 people. “But we have found a way to contribute to the fight against global warming without harming our quality of life.” “Wind turbines are out of the question and solar panels are strictly regulated,” said Andreas Nunzer, mayor of picturesque Spitz on the Danube river. Soon it could be producing its own electricity too, and in a way that will not spoil the stunning views. THE Wachau, a picture-postcard river valley in Austria, makes a lot of wine.
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