Nomination for the ETH Spark Award
Researchers at VAW, together with Wälli AG Ingenieure and the steel water constructor Fäh AG, developed a new, innovative fish guiding rake for the best possible protection of animals passing through power plants during their downstream migration.
This guide rake has now been selected as one of the top 20 technologies of 2021. ETH Zurich presents the Spark Award for the most promising invention that has led to a patent application in the last year. The criteria for evaluation are originality, patent strength and market potential.
Herrentöbeli power plant pilot plant (Thur)
The newly developed fish screen (see first highlight), for which a patent application has been filed, is currently being installed for the first time on a prototype scale in combination with a fish bypass channel at the Herrentöbeli small hydroelectric power plant on the River Thur in Toggenburg. The power plant is operated by St. Gallisch-Appenzellische Kraftwerke AG and is being converted as part of the ecological rehabilitation of hydropower plants to meet the objectives of the Water Protection Act (see photo). The pilot project is financially supported by the Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN) in order to gain experience with the new fish screen bypass system. After commissioning, extensive hydraulic and fish biological monitoring campaigns will be carried out to investigate the effectiveness of the system on fish protection and fish routing during downstream migration and to compare it with the results of fish tests in the laboratory.