Sunday 9 October 2022, 20:17
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A real gem, equivalent to a time capsule, exists in Transylvania, at the exit of Sadu, at a distance of 18 kilometers from the city of Sibiu. It is called the Sadu 1 low-power hydroelectric power plant, being the oldest operating power plant in Romania.
It was put into operation on December 16, 1896 on the land made available by the municipality of Sadu on the basis of the documentation prepared by the designer Oskar von Miller.
The plant was originally equipped with three turbines and two steam engines. These were directly coupled to single phase generators and produced 200 KW at 42 Hz and 4500 V. However, the Girard turbines were too small, so in 1902 and 1905 they were later replaced by 350 HP Francis turbines and single phase generators produced by GANZ & CO of Budapest.
In 1925 and 1926 the generators of groups 1 and 2 were rewound for three-phase alternating current. The three hydroelectric groups mentioned above still exist today and are still in operation.
photo by Andy Fazekas
The electricity produced in Sadu I ensured the electrification of the country’s first locality, the municipality of Sadu. Later, electricity was also introduced in the cities of Cisnădie and Sibiu. The smooth operation of the plant was coordinated for several decades by the Swabian engineer Sigmund Dachler.
According to the maintenance team, the bearings of these machines have very close to zero wear and work at 99% of the parameters provided by the manufacturer, even after 125 years.
The energy museum, inaugurated on the centenary of the plant
The Sadu I energy museum, the first museum of its kind in the country, was inaugurated in 1996 on the occasion of the centenary of the plant’s commissioning.
With all the equipment in working order, the plant itself is the most valuable exhibit in this museum. Upstairs, above the engine room, in the former premises for operational personnel, three rooms have been set up in which equipment, tools, materials and documents illustrating the phases of energy development in southern Transylvania are exhibited.
The “Cronos” room presents the story of the appearance of electricity in the Siberian lands. The exhibits illustrate the main moments in the evolution of the plant from the beginnings to the Second World War. To illustrate the idea of chronology, electric clocks of different ages, sizes and types were grouped in one of the corners of the room, which worked precisely in the premises of the Sadu I power plant.
photo by Andy Fazekas
The “Vulcan” room explains the organization of the Sibiu power plant in the interwar period: the director’s office, the design office, the repair shop and the metrology shop. The “Hermes” room captures the phases of the realization of the Sadu V hydroelectric development, the structure of an energy system, the plants and appliances that consume electricity. The plant is operated by the state-owned company hydroelectric.
The museum, one of the few of its kind in Europe, offers the joy and charm of going back in time over 100 years, underlining the durability of the well-executed work over time.
