Down To The Last Drop - Tyrol and its hydropower (full movie)

A documentary film about the planned expansion of the Kaunertal power plant, hydropower in Tyrol, and the question: Are we doing everything right in the energy transition?
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Austria, Tirol 2023 // German // 30 Minutes
Director/Screenwriter: Harry Putz
Production: FREILUFTDOKU, WET- Wildwasser Erhalten Tirol
Editors: Marieke Vogt, Anne Stevens, Andrina Janicke
Cast: Harry Putz, Marianne Götsch, Michael Reischer, Leopold Füreder, Reinhard Scheiber, Bettina Urbanek, Bernhard Steidl, Anita Hofmann, Zacharias Schäle, Liliana Dagostin, Adrian Mattern
Filming Locations: Tirol, Platzertal/Kaunertal/Ötztal/Innsbruck
The last wild rivers in the Alps are in danger as their utilisation for energy production continues to increase. In Tyrol in particular, hydropower is on the brink of total expansion. There is hardly a stream or river in Tyrol that has not yet been utilised and impaired for energy purposes. Even the last intact rivers and Alpine natural areas are to be sacrificed for energy production - and all this in the midst of a biodiversity crisis and climate catastrophe.
Filmmaker Harry Putz explores the unspoilt high alpine Platzertal valley, which is to be dammed to create a reservoir under the plans of Tyrolean state energy supplier TIWAG. Putz interviews those affected, experts and environmentalists about the expansion project and the expected consequences. The planned expansion of the Kaunertal power plant is the largest hydropower project in Central Europe in recent decades. With several reservoirs, powerhouses, tunnels and dams, it will extend across the entire Ötztal Alps. These interventions would also irrevocably change the Ötztaler Ache - the last large glacial river in Austria that has not yet been massively affected by energy utilisation. Up to 80 per cent of Ötztal’s water is to be diverted from the valley.
‘Down To The Last Drop’ poses the questions: What is a future without wild rivers? Is the sacrifice of unspoilt natural areas for energy production still justifiable? And is the further expansion of hydropower at all expedient in the fight against the climate crisis? Harry Putz wants to sensitise the audience to the urgency of the situation and tells the story of a movement to protect the last wild rivers and alpine natural areas in Tyrol.

[@felidae-lynx]

The fact that solar power is a direct substitution for pumped hydro storage is a bit disingenuous. But as long as solar power does not saturate the energy grid, it is the better energy source. Since then the avilable hydropower can be used effectively outside those times.