Laxeleratorn: exploring innovative solutions for safe fish passage
Over the next 20 years, all Swedish hydropower production will be environmentally tested and equipped to meet modern environmental standards.
Short facts
- Vattenfall’s Älvkarleby Laboratory, Sweden
- Eel and post-spawning salmon (kelt)
- Solutions for up and downstream fish migration
- Continuous
The challenge is to find solutions that reduce negative effects on ecosystems and biodiversity while minimizing the impact on electricity generation.
In 2019, Vattenfall invested in “Laxeleratorn,” a large-scale laboratory for hydropower-related environmental and hydraulic experiments. The facility focuses on innovations for safe fish passage, including intake racks, “dancing rods,” and bubble curtains.
Research has been conducted on the efficiency of various guidance solutions, eel behaviour, and the reaction of post-spawning salmon (kelt) to changes in water conditions to establish design criteria for bypass systems.
More about biodiversity
Biodiversity and nature protection are a priority at Vattenfall. It is one of the focus areas in our environmental policy and therefore also a central part in our environmental work.
See also
Building fish ladders at hydropower stations
Hydropower plants create barriers in rivers, limiting the ability of migrating fish species to travel.
Ensuring efficient fish passage: mapping fish using AI
To ensure that the fish passage works efficiently, we initiated a project to test how AI can be used.
Adapting flight paths: a study on seabird behaviour around wind turbines
Flight behaviour has been studied in the EOWDC research programme.