''Kraftwerke Oberhasli AG'' (KWO) is a

Swiss Swiss may refer to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina *Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses *Swiss-system tournament, in various games and sports *Swiss Internation ...

energy supply Energy supply is the delivery of fuels or transformed fuels to point of consumption. It potentially encompasses the extraction, transmission, generation, distribution and storage of fuels. It is also sometimes called energy flow. This supply o ...

company, based in

Innertkirchen Innertkirchen is a village and municipality in the Interlaken-Oberhasli administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. On 1 January 2014 the former municipality of Gadmen merged into the municipality of Innertkirchen.

and operating several

hydroelectric Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies one sixth of the world's electricity, almost 4500 TWh in 2020, which is more than all other renewable sources combined and ...

plants in the

Oberhasli The Oberhasli is a historical '' Landvogtei'' or ''Talschaft'' in the Bernese Highlands, Switzerland, bordering on the cantons of Obwalden (OW), Nidwalden (NW), Uri (UR) and Wallis (VS). From 1833 to 2009, Oberhasli was incorporated as the O ...

area of the

Canton of Berne The canton of Bern or Berne (german: Kanton Bern; rm, Chantun Berna; french: canton de Berne; it, Canton Berna) is one of the 26 cantons forming the Swiss Confederation. Its capital city, Bern, is also the ''de facto'' capital of Switzerland. ...

. It also operates a number of

tourist attraction A tourist attraction is a place of interest that tourists visit, typically for its inherent or an exhibited natural or cultural value, historical significance, natural or built beauty, offering leisure and amusement. Types Places of natural b ...

s in the same area, mostly with some relationship to its energy supply business. It uses the brands Grimselstrom and Grimselwelt, the latter specifically for its tourism ventures. Both brands are named after the

Grimsel Pass The Grimsel Pass (german: Grimselpass; french: Col du Grimsel; it, Passo del Grimsel) is a mountain pass in Switzerland, crossing the Bernese Alps at an elevation of . The pass connects the Haslital, the upper valley of the river Aare, with t ...

that forms the upper end of its operating area. Founded in 1925, the company had its first power plant, ''Handeck 1'', online by 1932. Currently, KWO is operating nine plants, fed by the reservoirs of

Grimselsee The Grimselsee or Lake Grimsel is an artificial lake near the Grimsel Pass in the Canton of Berne, Switzerland. With a volume of 95 mio m³ (20.9 billion imperial gallons, 20.1 billion US gallons), it is larger than other hydroelectric reservoirs i ...

Oberaarsee Oberaarsee is a hydroelectric reservoir in the Grimsel area, part of the municipality of Guttannen, Switzerland. Its surface area is . The Oberaar dam was completed in 1953, and is operated by Kraftwerke Oberhasli. It is drained by the Oberaarbach ...

Räterichsbodensee Räterichsbodensee is a lake in Guttannen, Oberhasli, Switzerland. The reservoir has a volume of 25 mio m³, a surface area is and is operated by Kraftwerke Oberhasli. It is connected to the river Aare. See also *List of lakes of Switzerland *L ...

Gelmersee Gelmersee (or Lake Gelmer) is a reservoir in Bernese Oberland, Switzerland. The hydroelectric reservoir was completed in 1932, at about the same time as the Grimselsee reservoir, and both are operated by Kraftwerke Oberhasli. The reservoir's vo ...

and Totensee, with a total of 26 turbines giving a total maximum power output of 1.125

Gigawatt The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantify the rate of energy transfer. The watt is named after James Wat ...

s. The company produces around 2,350

Gigawatt hour A kilowatt-hour ( unit symbol: kW⋅h or kW h; commonly written as kWh) is a unit of energy: one kilowatt of power for one hour. In terms of SI derived units with special names, it equals 3.6 megajoules (MJ). Kilowatt-hours are a common bi ...

s of electricity annually, which represents about 7% of the country's total hydroelectric energy production. The company also owns the Meiringen–Innertkirchen railway, the

Gelmerbahn funicular The Gelmer Funicular is a cable railway in the canton of Bern, Switzerland. It links a lower terminus at Handegg, in the Haslital (the valley of the upper Aar River), with an upper terminus at the Gelmersee lake. The Gelmerbahn was the steepe ...

, and the Sidelhornbahn, Triftbahn and Tällibahn aerial lifts. All of these were originally built to assist the construction and maintenance of its hydroelectric plants, but now provide transport for local residents and/or tourists. Additionally the Kraftwerke Oberhasli operates and maintains the

Reichenbachfall Funicular The Reichenbachfall Funicular (german: Reichenbachfall-Bahn; RfB) is a funicular in the Bernese Oberland region of the Switzerland, Swiss canton of Berne. It links Willigen, near Meiringen, with the uppermost of the Reichenbach Falls, famous as th ...

, although this is owned by the neighbouring

EWR Energie Newark Liberty International Airport , originally Newark Metropolitan Airport and later Newark International Airport, is an international airport straddling the boundary between the cities of Newark in Essex County and Elizabeth in Union Cou ...

company. KWO employs 530 people, or a total of 364 full-time jobs.

References

External links

* *http://www.grimselstrom.ch/ (company web site) *http://www.grimselwelt.ch/ (tourist business web site) Hydroelectricity in Switzerland Electric power companies of Switzerland Oberhasli Energy companies established in 1925 Transport companies established in 1925 Swiss companies established in 1925 {{Switzerland-company-stub