Hagneck Hydroelectric Power Plant
Completed in 1878, the Hagneck Canal connects the Aare river and Lake Biel and is used to manage flood levels in the Bern area of Switzerland’s Seeland region. Around 110 years after the first hydroelectric power plant, which is still operating today, a second run-of-the-river (ROR) plant is being built on the site of an old weir at the mouth of the canal, where it enters the lake. The client, Bielersee Kraftwerke AG, defined the technical requirements of the plant (two Kaplan axial turbines on the right, a four-channel weir on the left, and a hydraulically efficient profile) and issued a design competition held under the Swiss Society of Engineers and Architects (SIA) rules.
