Mühlhausen Hydroelectric Power Plant on the Enz

The water for the power plant is diverted via a channel from the not far away weir (komoot.de/highlight/375398) of the Enz. Architecturally quite interesting; certainly more exciting inside. Information: muehlhausen-enz.de/wasserkraftwerk.php

The water comes from the Mühlhausen dam through a tunnel to the power plant. The hydropower of the Enzschleife, with a gradient of approx. 7 m, is used to generate electricity. The hydroelectric power station was built in 1921.

The Mühlhausen an der Enz power plant

By Prof. W. Eberhardt, Stuttgart.

In 1909, a large number of municipalities in the Württemberg regional authorities, Maulbronn, Vaihingen, Leonberg and Brackenheim, formed an association for the purpose of a common supply of electrical energy. The association built a hydropower plant on the Enz near Enzberg in 1910/11, and this plant gave it the name of the “Enzberg Municipal Electricity Works”. The development of the overland plant was so favorable that the relatively small hydropower plant with an expansion water volume of 12 m³ / sec. and a 4.10 m gradient together with a 200 HP diesel engine system could no longer cover the electricity needs of 27 municipalities of the above-mentioned Württemberg regional offices and of several municipalities of the Pforzheim district office in Baden. The installation of another diesel engine with an output of 1000 hp provided temporary security, but the community association was forced to look for another source of energy. This presented itself in the unused hydropower at the Enzschleife near Mühlhausen, about 12 km below the Württemberg-Baden state border.

more: muehlhausen-enz.de/wasserkraftwerk.php