Funding programme

FFG Spin-off Fellowship

Project Coordinator

• DI Dr Barbara Brinkmeier
  

Staff (AB Hydraulic Engineering, UIBK)

• DI Ruben Tutzer

Project duration

• 10/2018 - 04/2020

Website with further information

www.hyfish.at

Project description

Due to the requirements of the European Water Framework Directive to achieve the good ecological status of water bodies, fish protection at hydropower plants is currently and in the future of increased importance. Against this background and due to the lack of state-of-the-art technology for fish protection devices, the rope screen was developed at the University of Innsbruck. This consists of horizontally tensioned ropes, which are arranged in the inlet area of to protect the fish from swimming into the turbine area and at the same time lead to a bypass. If electrical voltage is applied to the ropes, the protective and guiding effect can be further improved (electric rope rake). By combining a mechanical barrier with an electrical scouring system ("hybrid barrier"), an effective and cost-effective fish protection system is created that is not yet available in this form and can be used for both new construction and retrofitting of small and large hydropower plants.

To date, the effect of the cable screen and the electrified cable screen has been tested in a series of ethohydraulic tests (fish tests). An excellent fish protection effect was demonstrated. Further tests on laying and cleaning the ropes and on tensioning technology were carried out in the laboratory. The next step in the development of the rope screen should be the planning and construction of demonstration systems at existing hydropower plants in order to demonstrate the fish protection effect by means of monitoring and to check the functionalities in operation (tensioning technology, cleaning, maintenance effort, etc.).

The aim of the HyFish project is to further develop the cable screen to such an extent that it can be utilised as part of a business start-up after the spin-off fellowship has been completed. To this end, locations or hydropower plant operators are being sought as partners at which or with which pilot plants can be realised. At the same time, fundamental considerations are being made regarding the commercial utilisation of the property right in the form of the newly founded spin-off.

Image 1: Close-up of the FishProtector (electric cable rake) with visualisation of the electric field that spreads in the water

Image 2: Underwater image of the FishProtector during the fish trials in Lunz/See