NAME OF THE LOCAL AREA
Hydroelectric power plan of Ivoz-Ramet
COUNTRY
Belgium
CITY
Liège
THEMATIC AREA
Physics
DESCRIPTION OF THE LOCAL AREA
The Ivoz-Ramet dam is located in (Province of Liège), on the river Meuse and is made up of two locks, a power plant, and a road bridge. The exact address is: Quai du Halage, 1B-4400 Flémalle. It can be reached by Bus with lines number 2 and 47 or by train from Liège-Palais station to Flémalle station.
The power plant is not a site of community importance.
The hydroelectric power plant of Ivoz-Ramet was built in 1952 and put in operation in 1954. Due to the oncoming deadline of the exploitation license, the company EDF Luminus S.A. (formerly SPE), which exploits the power plant, has introduced a renewal request. No modification of the plant is foreseen. The hydroelectric power plant is made up of three turbines with a vertical axe vertical that each activates one 4,470 kW alternator, for a total power of 13.41 electric MW. Built on the Meuse at the level of Ivoz-Ramet dam, it benefits from a waterfall of about 4.6 m. The potential energy of the river is turned into mechanical energy by 3 Kaplan turbines with a vertical axe, then in electrical energy by the alternators associated to the turbines. To be injected in the high tension electricity transport network run by Elia, the tension is raised to 70 kV by elevator transformers. Since its construction, the plant has produced an average of 39 GWh a year.
The most significant consequences of the plant concern the damages caused by the turbines on the migrating fish population, including European eels, Atlantic salmons and sea trout when they go downstream (catadromous migration). Going upstream (anadromous migration), the consequences are reduced by an existing fish ladder (added by SPW) next to the power plant and the creation of a new one within the framework of the extension of Ivoz-Ramet lock.
