Ikervár Hydroelectric Power Plant

The Askeri power plant is a power plant located next to the town of Ikervár in Vas County, operating on a separate channel of the Rába River. It is Hungary’s first power plant, which still operates today.

History

Sir Gyula Éhen, former mayor of Szombathely, the noble astronomer György György, János János, Károly Károly, and the residents of Szombatheheylike János János, János János, and Károly Károly initiated the project and, after lengthy negotiations, secured the concession from Count Antal Károlyi to electrify the city. As a first step they commissioned private engineers László Bánó and Béla Szüts to examine whether a hydroelectric power plant could be built along the Rába River, and in 1892 they concluded that the drop of the Rába at Ákervár was the most favorable for constructing a power plant, and it was also advantageous that it was only 23 kilometres away, allowing the network to be extended to Sárvár. The owners of the estate were not difficult to persuade. At the site, since 1796, a watermill called “Ella” had been operating, with a capacity of 120 horsepower (this was moved to Sárvár in 1897 and demolished in 2017). To rotate the waterwheel, the river level had to be raised, so a channel was built, whose side was formed by a stone wall, which, however, was always damaged by the annual floods.

Count Géza Batthyány initiated in 1894 the creation of a company to use water power, instead of the expensive production of electric current with steam engines, applying a facility already operating in Switzerland to the Rába Ikervár section in Hungary, on the estate of his son, Governor Lajos Batthyány of Fiume, and its sale for industrial purposes. The joint-stock company was founded with a capital of one million forints. The large‑scale plan also required foreign capital, therefore at the end of 1894 the subscription of shares was announced. The Vas County Electric Works Joint‑Stock Company was established in August 1895, and its registration at the royal court of Szombathely took place on September 7, 1895, under number 9671/1895. Part of the plant was designed by Swiss engineers and specialists, the installations were made according to the invention of René Thury, but based on the plans of Hungarian engineers by the Compagnie d'industrie électrique in Geneva.

Construction began on the Batthyány family estate in 1896. Initially, Swiss‑made machines with a total capacity of nearly 600 kW operated in it, whose turbines were driven by the Escher Wyss factory in Zurich. These also supplied direct current to the surrounding settlements.

The plant's designers were László Bánó and Béla Szüts, its construction contractor was the Budapest company Melocco. The electrical equipment was made by the Geneva company (Compagnie de l’Industrie Electrique et Mécanique), and the turbines were made by the Zurich company (Escher Wyss et Compagnie). They used the 7.55 metre fall of the Rába River to generate electric power, thus it is considered a low‑head hydroelectric plant. Three horizontal‑axis, Joswall‑type turbines were connected directly to two high‑voltage (1500 V), series‑connected, Thury‑type direct‑current dynamos of 65 A current. In winter – if necessary – the river water was heated directly before the turbines with a boiler ship so that it would not freeze. The whole plant was commissioned on the last day of the millennium year, 31 December 1896, and has been operating continuously day and night since then. The Vas County electric works bought the Sopron gas works in 1897 to establish electric lighting and a railway there and even in December of that year concluded a contract with the town for the construction. In 1899–1900, with Belgian and French capital involvement, two new turbines were put into operation, and based on the plans of Jenő Gothard, under his direction a second line to Sopron was built.

Thanks to this plant Ikervár became the first village in Hungary supplied with an electric system, and the Batthyány Castle in Ikervár had electric lighting before the Vienna Schönbrunn.

During the reconstruction carried out in 1925 they switched to alternating current, and the plant's capacity became 1540 kW. In the reconstruction new Ganz‑manufactured Francis turbines and generators were installed. In the machine house one of each of these was preserved in operational condition for exhibition purposes.

In 1995 it was privatized. At that time another modernization took place, during which Swedish turbines and generators were installed, with a total capacity of 2280 kW. The building and the related equipment are today classified as an industrial‑historical monument; its more important rooms were at one time also open to visitors, but nowadays the museum is closed.

Access

The plant is located about 3.2 kilometres east of the centre of Ikervár, and its road access is provided by a municipal road that branches off from road 8441, along its 4+250 kilometre marker.