Vianden Pumped Storage Plant

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The Vianden pumped storage plant with a nominal capacity of 1096 megawatts ( MW) of one of the most powerful pumped storage plants in Europe.

It was built from 1954 to 1964 and goes back on plans from 1925. The industrial plant was officially opened on April 17, 1964 by Grand Duchess Charlotte of Luxembourg. The work consists of a reservoir at the Our two upper reservoir to 509 meters above sea level, an underground cavern hall and a system of pressure pipes. It is used to store energy. The management of the power plant 's director Fernand Zanter and the Secretary General of the operator SEO, Paul Zeimet.

Technical Description

The principle of the pumped storage power plant is to produce electricity in addition quickly at peak consumption. The water then shoots through ten turbines that produce generators with peak current. In the low consumption periods, the water is pumped into the memory, to be available for the production of electricity in peak periods.

In the large machine hall are nine of the 10 groups of machines that include a generator and a pump next to the turbine. The turbine generates an output of 100 MW. The nine pumps have a slightly lower performance than the turbines, namely together 621 MW.

The tenth machine was built in 1970 in a tributary. It has a pressure tunnel of 4.50 m diameter to the upper reservoir 1375 m long. In contrast to the other nine turbine has a vertical axis and has a power output of 196 MW.

The lower basin extends from the Ourtalsperre in Vianden to Stolzemburg. It is 8 km long and has 10.8 million cubic meters of storage space. The upper reservoir with 7.23 million m³ capacity has a dam which is 14 m and a maximum height of 35 meters on average. The cavern under the Nicholas Berg is 330 m long, 25 m high and 15 m wide. The pressure tubes are 6 m and 6.50 m in diameter and 625 m and 856 m long.

• Reservoir

Upper reservoir: The reservoir

Lower basin: The dam dams on the Our

In times with low power consumption ( for example, at night) pump the pump with electricity from the German Amprion grid the water about 280 meters up. At times of peak load, the water is then lowered again to produce electricity. The case " recovered " current is fed back into the German Amprion grid. The mains connection is made on the 220 ​​- kV high- voltage level of the switchgear in Niederstedem. The oscillating water quantity is up to 6.84 million m³.

Extension

Work on the planned since 2006 eleventh turbine was started in early 2010. It will increase the power again to 200 MW. This is also the storage spaces of the upper and lower basins must be increased. The contract was awarded in late 2009 and the end of construction is [ deprecated] planned for fall 2013.

Operators and owners

The power plant is of the Société électrique de l'Our ( SEO) operated at the German RWE and the state of Luxembourg each hold 40.3 %. Other shareholders include the Investment Company Luxempart ( 5.44% ), the nation 's largest electricity provider Enovos Luxembourg ( 4.46% ) and Belgium's leading energy service providers Electrabel (3.44 %). The power is distributed over a grid across Europe.

Others

The Vianden pumped storage plant is pictured on the former 100 - franc bill of Luxembourg from 1963.

The work can be visited by appointment. In a screening room there is to see films about the power plant as well as energy production and energy consumption in Europe.

The control in the electricity grid is done by RWE Supply & Trading in food.