The Iffezheim Lock () is a river lock on the

Rhine The Rhine ( ) is one of the List of rivers of Europe, major rivers in Europe. The river begins in the Swiss canton of Graubünden in the southeastern Swiss Alps. It forms part of the Swiss-Liechtenstein border, then part of the Austria–Swit ...

near

Iffezheim Iffezheim is a town in the district of Rastatt in Baden-Württemberg in Germany. It lies close to the Rhine river, where the Lock Iffezheim is also situated. Iffezheim is also known for the horse races, which takes place three times a year. Poli ...

Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg ( ; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a states of Germany, German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million i ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. The two passages of the lock serve to allow ships and barges to bypass the

hydropower Hydropower (from Ancient Greek -, "water"), also known as water power or water energy, is the use of falling or fast-running water to Electricity generation, produce electricity or to power machines. This is achieved by energy transformation, ...

station on the French side of the river. It is one of the heaviest-used locks in Germany, with a daily average of 107 commercial vessels passing through in 2003 and 30 million shipping tonnes per year. The chambers of the double lock have usable areas of 24 x 270 m. The lock is open for passage 24/7/365 and shuttles ships up or down with a water exchange rate of 165 m³/s per chamber, achieving a rise or fall of 1.5 m per minute. The lock retains at least 3.5 m water depth during normal low-water conditions.Schleuse Iffezheim
(from the Water- and Shipping Agency Freiburg website, in German. Accessed 2008-03-02.)

History

In 1840 the

Grand Duchy of Baden The Grand Duchy of Baden () was a German polity on the east bank of the Rhine. It originally existed as a sovereign state from 1806 to 1871 and later as part of the German Empire until 1918. The duchy's 12th-century origins were as a Margravia ...

and

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

concluded an agreement on Rhine regulation after

Johann Gottfried Tulla Johann Gottfried Tulla (20 March 1770, in Karlsruhe – 27 March 1828, in Paris) was a German engineer who accomplished the straightening of the Rhine, improving navigation and alleviating the effects of flooding. His measures gave the Upper Rhine ...

. In 1902, the Alsatian engineer Koechlin made a push to use the

water power Hydropower (from Ancient Greek -, "water"), also known as water power or water energy, is the use of falling or fast-running water to produce electricity or to power machines. This is achieved by converting the gravitational potential or kin ...

of the Rhine. In 1928 the expansion of the Rhine began with the

Grand Canal d'Alsace The Grand Canal of Alsace (, ; , ) is a canal in eastern France, channeling the Upper Rhine river. It is 50 kilometers (about 30 miles) long between Kembs and Vogelgrun, and provides access to the region from the Rhine River, Basel in Switzerla ...

and the first four power stations (Kembs to Vogelgrün), four further barrages in the so-called loop solution (Marckolsheim to Strasbourg) followed in 1959. In 1969 a German-French treaty was concluded for the construction of the

Gambsheim Gambsheim is a commune in the Bas-Rhin department and Grand Est region of north-eastern France, in the historical region of Alsace. Geography Gambsheim lies adjacent to a river-crossing into Germany that is favoured by southbound traffic on th ...

and Iffezheim barrages, to be operated in a symmetric manner. Following the completion of Gambsheim, the construction of the Iffezheim barrage started in 1974, with the French side only building and operating a weir, while the German side has lock, power station and substation for connection to the German grid. It was put into operation in 1977. A contract to build the fish passes at Iffezheim and Gambsheim was signed in 1997. The fish pass in Iffezheim was put into operation in 2000, the one in Gambsheim in 2006. In 2009 the construction of the 5th turbine in Iffezheim started. At the end of 2011, the water law permit for the installation of a 5th turbine in the Rhine power plant Gambsheim was granted. This will increase the power plant capacity to 1420 m³/s. The additional turbine was pun into operation by 18 October 2013. f>

Weir

The

weir A weir or low-head dam is a barrier across the width of a river that alters the flow characteristics of water and usually results in a change in the height of the water level. Weirs are also used to control the flow of water for outlets of l ...

of the barrage in Iffezheim is situated on the French side of the Rhine, so that the whole barrage is approximately mirror-inverted to the next higher situated barrage Gambsheim. It consists of six weir fields, each 20 m wide. One weir field consists of a hydraulically operated flap and a chain-driven pressure segment. The weir ensures the flow of the Rhine in the event of water flows that are greater than the capacity of the power plant. The entire plant is designed for a maximum water flow of 7500 m³/s.

sluices

The double sluice consists of two sluice chambers, each 270 metres long and 24 metres wide. The difference in height between headwater and tailwater is about 12.5 metres at low water. They are one of the largest inland locks in Europe. The locks were put into operation on 14 March 1977. They are in operation 24 hours a day in three shifts and are maintained and serviced by the waterways and shipping office Freiburg. Every year, between 25,700 (2008) and 40,600 (1990) ships with approx. 24.4 (2009) to 30.9 (2000) million tonnes of goods pass through the locks in freight and cargo traffic.

Fish pass

In 1987 the

International Commission for the Protection of the Rhine International Commission for the Protection of the Rhine (ICPR) and its contract shows alignment with the UN Convention on international watercourses and has proven effective in its goals for the Rhine and the Rhine Basin. It was necessary for a tre ...

(ICPR) has drawn up a programme of measures aimed, inter alia, at the reintroduction of salmon into the Rhine. One of the projects to this end was the construction of the fish passes at Iffezheim and Gambsheim, which was approved in the contract of 4 March 1997. The canal, which is modelled on a torrent, consists of 37 individual basins in a row with a water depth of 1.5 m and a total length of 300 m. The Iffezheim fish pass was inaugurated in 2000, Gambsheim was opened in 2006. The construction of the fish pass in Iffezheim was financed by the two states France and Germany and the RKI GmbH. In connection with the fish pass, machine 6 was put into operation as a so-called lock current turbine. This is a Kaplan machine with 1.05 MW asynchronous generator. The fish pass in Gambsheim, which was built subsequently, underwent a number of design changes based on the experience gained in Iffezheim.

References

{{coord, 48.832125, 8.11306, region:DE_type:landmark, display=title Rhine Locks of Germany Buildings and structures in Rastatt (district) 1977 establishments in West Germany Transport infrastructure completed in 1977