Wacker Chemie AG generates its own electricity.

Own energy through hydropower.

Wacker Chemie generates part of the energy required in large quantities at the Burghausen site itself, including around 10% of the electrical power using five hydropower turbines from the Alzwerke GmbH hydroelectric power plant. Founded in 1918, Alzwerke is a subsidiary of Wacker Chemie AG and is located on the company premises, directly on the border with Austria and right by the Salzach river.

two indispensable helpers.

The Alzwerke are named after the river Alz, the outlet of Lake Chiemsee. The Alz stretches 63 km from Seebruck to the mouth of the river Inn. The 16-km-long Alz Canal, which is managed by the Alzwerke, branches off from it near Hirten. In addition to operating and maintaining the power plant, the 20 employees are also responsible for the canal section. They are helped in their work by two Unimog vehicles: a moss green Unimog U 406 with 90 hp from 1985 and a brand new Unimog U 319 in reflex silver metallic.

The implement carrier lives up to its name: behind the cab it has a Palfinger loading crane (PK 10002 SH) and a platform, assembled by Werner in Trier. “The crane has four supports and is equipped with a crane winch. We have a working cage for this purpose,” explains Matthias Unterstaller, Deputy Power Plant Manager.

Application diversity in power plant environments.

“The Unimog is indispensable for us due to its compact design, its power and, above all, its hydrostatic drive,” says Matthias Unterstaller. The Unimog U 319 is needed on the plant premises to manoeuvre the stoplog crane, among other things. This is a mobile crane with which the employees install stoplogs weighing up to 4 t, comparable to sheet piling, around the turbines to be serviced. The stoplogs around the turbines keep the water out of the underwater canal, which flows into the Salzach river, so that the Alzwerke team can carry out all maintenance work safely and carefully.

The Unimog is also indispensable for maintaining the canal dam. Here, it is important to remove the flotsam and to carry out repair and maintenance work. The tandem three-way tipper vehicle from Müller Mitteltal is extremely practical for branches and debris of any size for all operational transport tasks.

superior flexibility.

“Before purchasing the new Unimog, we also set our requirements for heavy-duty agricultural tractors. However, it was immediately clear that a tractor could never offer the many advantages of the Unimog. Above all, the crane and platform as well as the immense flexibility we have with the Unimog are unique,” explains Matthias Unterstaller. On average, the electricity generation of the Alzwerke in Burghausen amounts to 270,000,000 kWh per year. This corresponds to the electricity requirement of approximately 90,000 households.