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Martin Sintak on Mavel’s Low-Head Malczyce Dam in Poland
An aerial view of Mavel’s low-head Malczyce hydroelectric plant on the Odra River in southwestern Poland. A lock is visible on the left.
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ounded immediately after the fall of communism in the former Czechoslovakia, Czech Republic-based Mavel has grown to be a world leader in hydroelectric equipment. While the company provides a full range of turbines, one of its specialties is low-head hydro. Much of Mavel’s low-head hydro expertise was gained through designing and providing turbines for 10 projects on the Odra River, also known as the Oder, which flows through the Czech Republic, Poland, and Germany. In this interview, Martin Sintak, a Mavel founder, owner, and managing partner, tells Hydro Leader the story of the Malczyce hydroelectric plant, one of Mavel’s current projects on the Odra, and provides further details about other similar low-head projects in Central Europe. Hydro Leader: Tell us about your background and how you started Mavel.
8 | HYDRO LEADER | February 2021
Hydro Leader: What are your responsibilities at Mavel? Martin Sintak: My responsibilities have evolved during my time here. Originally, we all did some of everything. I did engineering, sales, administration, and hiring—pretty much anything that needed to be done. As the company grew over time, my line responsibilities evolved and shifted, but my focus on low-head opportunities in Central Europe remained unchanged. Now, my responsibilities are split between regional market leadership and oversight of line management. My regional focus has been and remains Central and Western Europe. Originally, I did hands-on work, and my strong relationships within Europe remain, but today I lead a team focused on this region. In terms of line management, I was the sales director for many years and managed the project management department. Now, however, we are lucky to have strong leaders in both sales and project management, and my role has evolved to that of supporting and overseeing their work. This allows me the flexibility to focus on developing and maintaining customer relationships and to work on sales, corporate strategy, technical innovations, and problem solving.
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PHOTO COURTESY OF MAVEL.
Martin Sintak: I am a Czech citizen and grew up under communism, finishing my studies at the Czech Technical University in 1988, just 2 years before the wall came down. My degree was in civil engineering. After graduation, I started working with a small engineering company in Prague that focused on small hydroelectric power. When the political system changed in 1990, one of my professors brought together a few of his students and we established
Mavel. Now, 30 years have passed, and I’ve been with Mavel pretty much my whole working life.
