Water Wood Energy

Water has always been a distinctive mark of our landscape and economy..

For centuries, the highest mountains of the „Zillertal“ Alps have been the best guarantee for enough water in our valley, but due to evident climate change the glaciers have shrunk considerably. The so-called ice-lake and many smooth cliffs are still evidence of formerly much vaster dimensions.

There are more than 200 wells in our Mühlwald-valley and most of them offer drinking-water of excellent quality. They can be found in different types of rock outside and within the so-called „Tauern-window“, a manifold geological zone. Cleverly built stonewalls at well selected places invite you to have a rest and refresh yourself.

The inhabitants of this mountain valley have always used the water of the Mühlwald brook as power source fort their mills. Some of them have been restored in recent years and still show this original and direct way to use water power. Nowadays it is mostly transformed to electric energy which is easily transportable and can be used for various purposes in the power supply system. A monumental building is the „Neves“ storage lake, but there are also other parts of this large underground network to be discovered in the surrounding landscape.

Hydroelectric power generation in the valley

In past centuries numerous mills produced direct motive drive, but nowadays water power is transformed to electric energy and thus gets transportable. 3 big waterpower plants are fed by the energy of the Mühlwald brook and some affluents. Together they produce an average of 143 GWH electric energy per year, which is about a quarter of the household power needed in South Tyrol.

Of particular interest and highly impressive is the Neves storage lake which has the highest damming-wall in South Tyrol, but also remarkable is the picturesque lake in Mühlwald. The big water tubes are mostly placed underground and therefore invisible, but at some spots they can be admired, for example at „Zösen“ (Lappach) and above the powerhouse.