Żarnowiec Pumped Storage Power Station

F1

The 1973 built until 1983 pumped storage power plant Żarnowiec (Polish Elektrownia Wodna Żarnowiec ) with a pumping capacity of 800 MW and a turbine capacity of 716 MW, the largest pumped storage power plant in Poland. It lies on the southern shore of Lake Żarnowieckie where there is also the unfinished nuclear power plant Żarnowiec.

History

In the 1970s, Poland had a shortage of electrical energy in general and of power plants for peak load generation in particular. Therefore, it was proposed in 1972 to build a nuclear power plant and a pumped storage power plant on Żarnowieckie lake. 1973 began detailed planning, 1976, started the construction of pumped-storage power plant Żarnowiec and 1983 this was completed. The construction of the nuclear power plant Żarnowiec was started in 1982, the building was, however, canceled in 1990.

Technology

Pressure pipes between the upper reservoir and power house

Power house with connection to the high voltage network

Żarnowieckie lake as a sub- basin

The pumped storage power plant has an artificial upper reservoir with a surface area of ​​135 ha, a total storage volume of 15.9 million cubic meters and a usable volume of 13.8 million m³. The water level in the upper reservoir varies by up to 16 m. Lead from the upper reservoir to the engine house four each 1,100 m long pressure pipes with a diameter of 7.40 m to 5.40 m. From these lines flow in turbine mode up to 700 m³ / s

In the engine house four Francis pump turbines are with a capacity of 4 × 179 MW = 716 MW in turbine mode and 4 × 200 MW = 800 MW in pump operation. Overall, the power plant has therefore a rule power of 1,516 MW. The reactive power can be from about -400 MVAr (capacitive) up to about 800 MVAr (inductive ) varies.

The pumped storage power plant can deliver the maximum power of about 5.5 hours in turbine mode and the pump mode to record the maximum power of about 6.0 h. In the turbine operation flow per turbine each 180 m³ / s, the pumping operation each 140 m³ / s, The power plant takes 180 seconds ( = 3 minutes), to start the turbine operation, and 600 s (= 10 min) to start pump operation. The efficiency of the power plant is 73%. The maximum utilization of fall height is 125 m.

The underwater channel has a length of 835 m, a maximum width of 13 m and at the mouth of a width of 100 m. In the water channel, the water flows at a speed of 1 m / s In serving as the lower reservoir Żarnowieckie lake, the water level fluctuates by up to 1 m due to the much larger volume compared to the upper reservoir.