Good to know

The Platzertal valley has been used as pasture and meadow land by mountain farmers for many decades. This valuable tradition can be continued even after the construction of the Platzertal reservoir. For the pasture areas affected by construction, we have planned measures to improve the yield of the remaining areas. In partnership with the farmers affected, these measures were developed, documented, presented and submitted in the course of the environmental impact assessment procedure. In autumn 2024, the alpine development concept was updated and further improved together with agricultural representatives and the agricultural community. The concept was presented to the Platzeralpe agricultural community at the beginning of 2025. Further discussions and site visits were agreed upon during this process.

The alpine development concept for the Platzertal valley focuses on the following:

  • Pasture management during the construction and operational phase of the planned impounding reservoir
  • Clearing and removing stones on pasture lands to obtain additional forage areas
  • Adapted grazing of sensitive biotopes
  • Improving alpine agriculture infrastructure

Monitoring has clearly shown that pasture quality can be significantly improved through measures such as clearing and removal of stones. This compensates for the decline in the available alpine pasture area from 891 hectares to 801 hectares due to the reservoir.

This means that the existing grazing rights will be entirely fulfilled following the implementation of the project. There is compensation for restrictions during the construction phase.

The Platzeralm alpine pasture will be retained even after the reservoir has been constructed because it is planned at the end of the valley. The mine will also remain unaffected by the construction of the reservoir in the Platzertal valley. This is also extremely important to us, as the Platzertal valley is a very beautiful high-alpine valley and an attractive destination. In addition to the alpine pasture, you can also visit the renovated mountain houses of a lead and silver mine dating back to the 15th century in the Platzertal valley.

Yes, the new Platzertal valley reservoir is secure.
For example, the dam is built as a rockfill dam with a centrally located asphalt-concrete seal. This construction method has been tried and tested for decades, for example at the Finstertal dam in Kühtai.

Assessments at the planned site of the Platzertal valley dam have shown that the construction conditions are good there. The rock foundation is stable and barely allows water to pass through. The existing unconsolidated rocks are also well suited for the supporting structures. According to all climate scenarios, the Platzertal valley reservoir will not be affected by permafrost.

The assessment is carried out according to the state of the art and provides high security even in the event of the most unfavourable loads (e.g. floods, earthquakes, mudflows, snow avalanches). The conservative assessment can be seen, for example, in the moderate embankment slope of the dam, the solid rip rap and the ample freeboard.

Regular on-site checks and a dense network of automatic measuring devices, which transmit their data around the clock, ensure that the condition of the dam and all safety-relevant parts are constantly monitored.

Thanks to the access tunnel, the Platzertal valley reservoir can be reached all year round via the Kaunertal valley from the Gepatsch dam.


No. To meet the future challenges in the energy supply system, we need a whole range of storage options.

Battery storage in the short-term range can bring significant benefits for stable systems. However, if flexibility is required beyond a few hours, battery storage is unsuitable. There can therefore be no question of competition with pumped storage power plants. To compensate for rapid changes in electricity generation and demand, battery and pumped storage power plants will be necessary as the European system will face large fluctuations within a few hours in the future.

Pumped storage power plants with large reservoirs can generate electricity over longer periods as needed, helping to compensate for bottlenecks and peaks in production and demand. They contribute to grid stability and supply security in Europe's energy system.

Due to the comparatively large Platzertal reservoir (42 million m3 storage volume), the Versetz pumped storage power plant can be operated continuously over a longer period of time either in pumped or turbine operation. The storage time, which indicates how long a reservoir can deliver energy, is up to 7 days at full power. Battery storage devices only last a few hours at a time.

Unlike pumped storage power plants, battery storage does not reduce what is known as the winter gap. However, the possibility of shifting storage quantities is urgently needed. There is already a large energy coverage gap if the wind does not blow for longer periods, or the sun cannot be seen for several days. This will become even more acute in the future with the phase-out of fossil fuels and will further widen the winter gap in Austria and Tyrol in particular.

Even in the event of a blackout, the expansion of the Kaunertal power plant can make a significant contribution to Tyrol's island supply system. This represents a further advantage over battery storage devices.

Battery storage devices have a very manageable service life, which can be significantly less than 15 years depending on the application. Pumped storage power plants such as the Versetz power plant, on the other hand, have very long-life cycles – they are generally designed for 100 years.

Pumped storage is a long-term and financially viable investment due to its mature technology and service life. In comparison, battery storage costs at least ten times more than pumped storage.
The costs for the much higher area required have not even been taken into account yet.

The carbon footprint of battery storage is a factor of 5-10 worse than that of pumped storage power plants. This is mainly due to the fact that battery storage systems use critical minerals such as lithium or cobalt, which have to be mined, transported and installed, while pumped storage systems use water as a storage medium. Most of the material for the construction of a pumped storage dam comes from the immediate vicinity. Pumped storage power plants are therefore a much more climate-friendly technology.

Battery storage systems cannot replace the Versetz pumped storage power plant one for one, as both storage technologies have very different strengths. However, our calculation example shows that the space required for battery storage systems must always be considered:

  • International large battery storage systems require between 80 and 240 square metres to store 1,000 kWh. These figures depend very much on the technical implementation and the necessary infrastructure.
  • For comparison: The Platzertal valley reservoir has an area of 90 hectares and can store 63 million kWh. The area for the Gepatsch reservoir is 260 hectares. The Versetz site therefore requires 14 square metres of space for 1,000 kWh.
  • If, for example, the large battery storage system in Jardelund in the German federal state of Schleswig-Holstein is taken as a benchmark, around three soccer fields for battery storage would have to be built in each of the 277 Tyrolean municipalities for the amount of energy that can be stored in the Platzertal valley reservoir.
  • If you take the energy that is processed up to the Prutz power plant as a benchmark (149.1 GWh), more than seven soccer fields would have to be built in each of the 277 Tyrolean municipalities.


No. The Gepatsch reservoir will remain safe even with the expansion of the Kaunertal power plant.

During the planning phase for the pumped storage relocation, the existing geological model for the Gepatsch reservoir was further refined through additional underground investigations and measurements. The upstream and downstream velocities from the planned pumping and turbine operation of the Platzertal reservoir will not change compared to those in current operation. The result: The planned pumped storage operation with the reservoir in the Platzertal valley will have no impact on the slopes of the Gepatsch reservoir. All of this is reviewed by independent experts from the authority as part of the EIA process.


The creeping slopes to the right and left of the reservoir have been permanently monitored since commissioning. Measurements and regular on-site inspections are carried out, assessed, interpreted, and evaluated. Independent (!) employees of TIWAG – dam managers and their deputies – are responsible for all these activities. They are on duty around the clock (24/7) and are obliged to report all special observations, measurement results and measures to the authority in a timely, complete, and truthful manner. There is an annual review and reporting to the authority. Every five years, the dam and reservoir are also inspected and assessed by independent experts from the Austrian Reservoir Commission.


In the Platzertal valley, around 7 hectares of valuable wetland soils are affected by the new reservoir. A multiple of this area will be wetted or newly created as compensation in wetlands in the vicinity of the reservoir. As part of the Kühtai expansion project in the Längental valley, for example, TIWAG succeeded in relocating or creating a similar small sedge meadow/fen (see pilot project for wetlands). The former peat extraction area in the Piller Moor is being extensively renaturalised and rewetted.

Of the areas affected in the Platzertal Valley, less than 1 ha can be classified as fenland (connected to groundwater), and the remaining 6 ha are wetlands (sedge meadows/spring areas) over gley soils (= no peat soil). It is therefore technically incorrect to speak of a raised bog when referring to the affected areas in the Platzertal Valley.

The CO2 storage by peatlands often mentioned by environmental organisations applies above all to peatlands with large and thick peat bodies, such as those found in Russia with an area of 125 million hectares. The wetland complex in the Platzertal valley cannot make a significant contribution to CO2 storage due to the predominantly low peat soil thickness (mostly less than 5 cm, in small areas more than 30 cm).

Co2e stands for CO2 equivalent or carbon dioxide equivalent and is used as a unit of measurement to compare the climate impact of different greenhouse gases or bound C (carbon).

The construction work at the end of the Platzertal valley is taking place over a period of five years and mainly includes the following construction measures:

  • construction of the Platzertal valley reservoir with the Platzertal valley dam and the associated underground structures,
  • drilling and blasting of the upper-level pressure tunnel and
  • shore road around the reservoir as well as a water intake at the Öbgrubenbach stream that dopes the Platzerbach stream

The Platzertal valley construction site can be accessed from the Kaunertal valley via the Platzertal valley access tunnel. The main work on the Platzertal valley construction site will begin when the Platzertal valley access tunnel has been completed.

Over a short period of time, trips to the Platzertal valley via Greit and the Pfundser Tschey are required for the preparatory work. Specifically, this involves six months between May and November and the following trips:

  • the daily trip of staff to Platzeralm (11 people in 2 commercial vehicles) and
  • one-time transportation of equipment and materials (1 hydraulic excavator, 1 mining truck, 1 drill boom, small equipment and approx. 50 t of materials) by truck and special transport on 1 to 2 days when there is as little traffic as possible.

Once the preparatory work has been completed, no more trips are planned on the Platzeralm access road via Pfundser Tschey.


Storage and pumped storage power plants such as the planned Versetz pumped storage fulfil their role as flexible energy storage systems for stable grids even with lower outflow volumes, which makes them an ideal partner for the energy transition that can be relied upon for the long term.
This is where their long service life of at least 100 years comes into play.

The runoff characteristics of glacial streams is influenced not only by the amounts of precipitation, but above all by the rapid melting of the glaciers.

  • For example, the glacier area in the Vent intake area was still around 70 km² in 1969 and had decreased to around 45 km² by 2017.
  • By 2050, the area can be expected to have a glacier area of only about 20 km².

If the glaciers melt completely in the distant future, the annual runoff of the glacial streams in the Vent intake area will be reduced by a maximum of 18%. This does not take into account the increase in annual rainfall in Tyrol due to climate change.

The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC*) periodically publishes climate change scenarios (RCP**), which are calculated depending on the evolution of the world population and the expected greenhouse gas emissions.

  • In these calculations, the average annual temperature for Tyrol is expected to rise by about +2°C by 2050, compared to the average for 1971–2000.
  • In the distant future between the years 2071 and 2100, the temperature is expected to rise from +2.3°C to +4.2°C depending on the scenario.
  • These temperature rises have an impact on the annual rainfall, with precipitation in Tyrol forecast to increase by +4.9 to +6.5% in the distant future.

* IPCC: Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
** RCP: representative Concentration Pathways

  • In the past 40 years, there has been a rise in temperature of more than 1°C in the Platzertal valley (source: Spartacus, Geosphere Austria). This has led to a decline in glacier areas and to changes in permafrost.
  • The climate change data valid for Austria (ÖKS15) predicts that temperatures will rise by +3 to +5°C in the period from 2071 to 2100 compared to 1971 to 2000.
  • The amount of precipitation has remained constant over the past 40 years. For the distant future, all projections show an increase in winter precipitation of around 10% and a slight increase in summer precipitation of around 5% in the Platzertal valley.
  • Earlier onset of snow melting
  • Increased runoff in winter
  • Reduced runoff in summer

The most likely scenarios for the future show that runoffs will shift from June/July to April/May. Due to higher precipitation in winter, runoffs in the months of October to December will also increase. The range of changes in runoff is -2% to +4%

Despite seasonal shifts, the annual average runoff rate for all scenarios around 2080 is the same for the Platzertal valley reservoir as it is today.

* IPCC: Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
** RCP: representative Concentration Pathways