Etzenricht is a small village in the Upper Palatinate, South-Eastly of Weiden in the Upper Palatinate with 1721 inhabitants and various small industry. Eastly from Etzenricht toward the direction Rothenstadt there is a transformer station of the E.ON AG with the GKK Etzenricht (described below) and a large compressor station for natural gas. In the proximity of Etzenricht there are numerous fish-rich small waters, which can be used from anglers after reception of a fishing license with the local fishery association.

Chronology of the village Etzenricht

Etzenricht was mentioned for the first time documentary in 1270. 1283 it was mentioned in the Salbuch "Ludwig the Strengen" as "Aechswinreuth". The inhabitants of Etzenricht lived at that time on the honey production and the agriculture. 1414 came the Reformator Johannes Huss on its way to the council of Konstanz though Etzenricht. In the war from 1618 to 1648 Etzenricht was destroyed in 1631. 1875 took place the building of the railway, but first in 1877 Etzenricht got its own railway station. Up to the completion of the catholic church in 1932 the condition persisted simultaneous around in Etzenricht that Evangelist and catholic services took place in the same church. A transformer station of the Bayernwerk AG (now E.ON AG) was built in the vicinity of Etzenricht and which was made expanded in the subsequent years for several times. On the area of this site was installed from 1991 to 1993 a HVDC back-to-back facility, the such called GKK Etzenricht, which made the name of the municipality Etzenricht supraregional popular.

GKK Etzenricht

Description of the facility

In the proximity of Etzenricht the former Bayernwerk AG (now E.ON AG) operated from 1993 to 1995 a HVDC back-to-back facility, the GKK (=Gleichstromkurzkupplung) Etzenricht for the coupling of the German and Czech electricity grids. It had a maximum transmission rate of 600 megawatts and worked with a DC voltage of 160kV. The two static inverters are in a 13 meters high hall with 430 square meters of surface area, which was built in a combination of local and finished concrete building method. Each static inverter consists of 432 thyristors, which are put in six thyristor towers arranged in a row. Each thyristor tower consists of 8 thyristor components, which each contain 9 series-switched thyristors and necessary auxiliary facilities, as the saturable core reactors required for the current limiting. As thyristor the type U78 S346 S34 from Siemens with a maximum continuous marginal current with 4100Ampere was used, which was at the time of the establishment of the plant the most powerful thyristor of the world. At both ends of the hall there are three bays for the accommodation of the static inverter transformers, which are built as single-phase units.

History of the GKK Etzenricht

The facility is at the moment in a non operable state on the area. It shall be sold to Eastern Europe in order to allow an energy exchange to Russia.

Powerline to Czech

The 380kV-powerline running from the (Ex) GKK Etzenricht to the Czech substations at Hradec and Prestice was built in 1992 and is for overvoltage protection equipped on its whole length with two ground conductors on a separate crossbar on the top of the pylons. At least one of these ground conductors contains a fibreoptic cable for data transmission. This powerline has two circuits with a maximum power transmission rate of 1630 Megawatts at a voltage level of 380 kV, which are built as bundles of four conductors of steel and aluminium with a cross section of 340 mm² aluminium and 30 mm² steel for each conductor. Between Weiden and Etzenricht this line is installed on 14 pylons of the "Danube type". One of these pylons was built after the shutdown of the GKK, in order to lead the line directly - past the converter hall - into the switchyard of the substation Etzenricht. The section between Weiden/Oberpfalz and Eslarn consists of 60 pylons with a fourth crossbar under the crossbars for the 380kV conductors in order to carry the two 110kV circuits of the powerline Weiden/Oberpfalz - Vohenstrauss and the two 30kV-circuits for the powerline Vohenstrauss-Eslarn. This measure was necessary, because of environmental protection, only one right of way was available. Therefore the circuits of these lines, which existed in 1992 already since several years, had to be installed on the pylons of the powerline with the 380kV-circuits to Czech. In Vohenstrauss the 110kV-circuits run to the local substation, which is situated close to the right of way of the powerline to Czech. Behind Vohenstrauss there are on the lowest crossbar the circuits of the 30kV-line Vohenstrauss-Eslarn, which are mounted on insulators for 110kV for a possible switch over to this voltage in the future. At Riedlhof this line leaves the track of the line to Czech and runs on pylons of concrete to the subsation Eslarn. From Riedlhof the 380kV-line to Czech runs on 15 pylons of the "Danube type" to the frontier between German and Czech, which is crossed close northly of the border crossing of the motorway A6 near Furth in the forest. After the frontier the construction type of pylon does not change, but their design and the type of conductors. In Czech bundles of 3 conductors with a cross section of 450 mm² aluminium and 50 mm² steel are used. 31.5 kilometres behind the frontier near Stribro the line splits off in two 380kV-lines with a single circuit. One of these lines is the 97.5 kilometre long line section to Hradec in Northern Bohemia and the other is the line to Prestice, built in 1997. Both lines are laid on pylons of Delta type.

Literature to the GKK Etzenricht

Sonderdruck aus Elektrizitätswirtschaft ( Nr. 4475),"Gleichstromkurzkupplung Etzenricht Strombrücke zwischen West und Ost" (in German)

Source

• http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etzenricht