Pumped storage | Dollars and developments
New developments are helping to optimise pumped storage processes, while investments and environmental permits are helping get new projects off the ground
Above: Hitachi Energy has supplied a static frequency converter (SFC) solution for use at the Malta Oberstufe pumped storage plant
IN FEBRUARY IT WAS announced that Hitachi Energy has completed and handed over to Austrian power generator Verbund the world’s first static frequency converter (SFC) solution to use modular multi-level technology in a pumped hydro storage application. This innovation enables Verbund to optimize the pumped storage process at Malta Oberstufe, a pumped storage plant belonging to the Malta- Reisseck power generation group, which has a total turbine power of 1500MW. The Hitachi Energy solution enables the 45-year-old pumped storage plant to switch its two pump-turbine units from traditional fixed-speed to state-of-the-art variable-speed operation. Instead of constantly running at the same speed, the pump turbines adjust their speed automatically according to grid conditions and reservoir water levels. This considerably improves the efficiency of the pumped storage process. The solution enables the operator of the Malta- Oberstufe power plant to actively participate in balancing the Austrian power grid. Moreover, it improves the integration of more green energy, such as wind and solar into the European grid. “This technology breakthrough is the result of a close and deep collaboration with Verbund to enhance the performance and extend the operating life of one of its most important assets,” said Marco Berardi, Head of Hitachi Energy’s Grid & Power Quality Solutions global product group. “By making the plant more efficient and by stabilizing the power grid, our unique technology and application know-how is advancing the world’s energy system to be more sustainable, flexible, and secure.” “The defining features of the Hitachi Energy solution are its low losses, robust modular design, limited maintenance requirements, and durability,”
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said Karl Zikulnig, Head of the Electrical Engineering Department at Verbund. “Its inherent redundancy is also key – we need exceptional reliability and availability, as the plant is inaccessible during the heavy winter snows.”
A number of firsts Recently, OPG and Northland Power proposed a
first-of-a-kind project for Canada that would develop a pumped storage project at an inactive, open-pit iron ore mine. The Marmora Pumped Storage Project would be a 400MW closed loop pumped storage facility that could power up to 400,000 homes at peak demand for up to five hours. The project design would utilise Marmora’s long inactive iron ore mine, now an artificial lake and local attraction, as the facility’s lower reservoir. The upper reservoir will be created on the site of the mine’s waste rock pile. Repurposing a former mine in this way is a “first” across Canadian power utilities. If constructed, the facility’s closed-loop design
would recirculate water between its two reservoirs to generate electricity. This approach would avoid drawing water from nearby waterways and lakes, eliminating impacts to fisheries and waterway levels. The 75-acre mine pit, which reaches a depth of
more than 200m below ground level, was created for mining operations in the mid-20th century and closed in the late 1970s. Since then, the pit has filled with a combination of rain and ground water. Another first was recently announced by Gilkes
Energy in the UK, who released details of its planned 900MW Earba Storage Project in Scotland, the company’s first pumped storage hydropower scheme. Earba Storage Project will store up to 33,000 MWh
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