--- title: "Pelton turbine: Power plants, built and planned" description: "Pelton turbine power plants with six nozzles on a horizontal shaft: Gerlos 2022, Vermuntwerk 2026 and the machine by Troyer." author: "Erlach & Erlach GmbH" language: en canonical: https://www.erlach-erlach.com/en/pelton-turbine/power-plants/ translation: de: https://www.erlach-erlach.com/pelton-turbine/kraftwerke/ license: CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) source: Generated at build time from the HTML page; same text, same sources. --- # Pelton turbine: Power plants, built and planned The horizontal Pelton turbine with six nozzles runs today in two power plants in Austria. Voith built both, under the name HP3+. For small hydropower, Troyer presents the design as “Pelton Turbine System Erlach”. This page is about **System Erlach**: the horizontal Pelton turbine with up to six nozzles designed by Josef Erlach. What holds for every Pelton turbine is marked “Pelton turbine” in the heading. The difference is explained in the overview [Pelton turbine](https://www.erlach-erlach.com/en/pelton-turbine/) System Erlach. ## Horizontal Pelton turbine with six nozzles, built: Gerlos 2022 and Vermuntwerk 2026 The horizontal Pelton turbine with six nozzles has been built. It runs in two power plants in Austria, with 250 megawatts in total. Gerlos 1 is the first power plant machine of the System Erlach design: horizontal shaft, six nozzles. Invented and patented by Josef Erlach, proven in the model test in 2008, built by Voith in 2022. Voith’s inlet differs in detail. Until then, Pelton turbines with more than three nozzles were always built with a vertical shaft. The machines in both power plants were built by Voith Hydro. Voith became development partner in 2007 and the first licensee for the Pelton turbine System Erlach in 2011. - **2022**: Gerlos 1 in the Zillertal, Tyrol, operator Verbund. One horizontal machine with six nozzles, 80 megawatts, 617 metres head. It replaces four older machines. (Source: [Voith, press release of 23 January 2023](https://www.voith.com/corp-en/news-room/press-releases/2023-01-23_vh_first_horizontal_six-nozzle_pelton_turbine.html); R. Mack, B. List, Viennahydro 2022; [POWER Magazine, 1 September 2023](https://www.powermag.com/hydropower-horizons-pioneering-a-pelton-turbine-breakthrough/)) - **2026**: Vermuntwerk in Partenen, Vorarlberg, operator illwerke vkw. Two horizontal machines with six nozzles each, 85 megawatts each, 713 metres head. They replace five horizontal machines with two nozzles each. (Source: [illwerke vkw, Vermuntwerk](https://www.illwerkevkw.at/geschaeftsfelder/wasserkraft/speicherkraftwerke/vermuntwerk); [Land Vorarlberg, UVP-Feststellungsbescheid](https://vorarlberg.at/documents/302033/472938/UVP-Feststellungsbescheid+-+Generalerneuerung+Vermuntwerk+2024+2025.pdf/c860f56c-aa2e-94dd-dfd9-0fc5593d3f59?t=1617801254955); [zek HYDRO International, 8 December 2025](https://hydroint.zek.at/technology/revolutionary-horizontally-setting-new-standards-with-the-first-horizontal-six-nozzle-pelton-turbine/)) Voith itself names Erlach as a source: in the publication on Gerlos the presentation of 2012, in its own patent specifications the patents of Erlach as prior art, most recently in 2025. The trade journal zek writes that the cooperation between Erlach and Voith flowed into the Gerlos project in 2022. Voith calls the machine HP3+ and guides the water in the housing and in the inlet in its own way, with its own patents. What they have in common is the design: horizontal shaft, six nozzles around the runner. **Source:** R. Mack, B. List, Viennahydro 2022, reference \[4\]; [EP 2 582 963 B1](https://patents.google.com/patent/EP2582963B1/), paragraph \[0001\]; [DE 10 2024 115 903 B3](https://patents.google.com/patent/DE102024115903B3/), paragraph \[0004\]; [zek Hydro, October 2025](https://hydro.zek.at/technik/troyer-praesentiert-neue-peltonturbine-system-erlach-in-flums/), p. 66; voith.com, accessed on 8 September 2026 and 28 September 2026. ## Pelton turbine System Erlach, planned: Troyer brings it to small hydropower Troyer names its machine after the inventor. In October 2025 in Flums, Troyer AG presented the “Pelton Turbine System Erlach” to more than fifty Swiss power plant operators: horizontal, with three to six nozzles, for small hydropower. Troyer and Erlach have worked together since 2025. According to the trade journal zek, the machine is about to be launched on the market, first in Switzerland. Troyer's president Davide Albani speaks of a system “that is based on the patents and developments of Josef Erlach” (translated from the German). Development continues with large plants as well. In 2023 Voith reports enquiries from Italy and India for horizontal machines with six nozzles and sees the market in the Alps, in Norway, in South America and in the Himalayas. In 2024 Voith filed a patent application for the modernisation of existing power plants with such machines and names in it the patent [EP 2 035 689 B1](https://www.erlach-erlach.com/en/pelton-turbine/patents/#ep2035689) of Erlach as prior art. The design suits the conversion of old power plants: one horizontal machine with six nozzles replaces several old ones. In Gerlos four machines became one, in the Vermuntwerk five are becoming two. **Source:** [zek Hydro, October 2025](https://hydro.zek.at/technik/troyer-praesentiert-neue-peltonturbine-system-erlach-in-flums/), pp. 66–67; [POWER Magazine, 1 September 2023](https://www.powermag.com/hydropower-horizons-pioneering-a-pelton-turbine-breakthrough/); [DE 10 2024 115 903 B3](https://patents.google.com/patent/DE102024115903B3/). --- Erlach & Erlach GmbH, Ravensburg. Web page: https://www.erlach-erlach.com/en/pelton-turbine/power-plants/ · License for this text: CC BY 4.0 · Overview for assistants: https://www.erlach-erlach.com/llms.txt