Iberdrola hybridising battery with pumped storage hydro in Spain

Iberdrola in Spain is working to improve management of its 50MW Santiago Sil-Xares hydroelectric pumped storage plant by implementing a 5MWh battery with the plant.

The Santiago Sil-Xares plant, in the province of Ourense, has a storage capacity of almost 3,000MWh. Iberdrola has all the permits and authorisations for the improvement and optimisation of the pumped storage power plant.

The project consists of the installation of a static starter and a 5MWh battery that will make the coupling to the grid of the existing reversible pumping groups more flexible.

This is the first project of its kind to be authorised in Spain, Iberdrola said. The project will allow faster and more flexible coupling to the grid of the hydroelectric pumping between the rivers Sil and Xares, with a difference in level of 230m.

Iberdrola is consolidating its investment effort to optimise its current facilities with pumped storage technology, which provides more than 3,000MW of capacity in Spain, as well as to promote new storage facilities (such as the 1,800MW Conso II project in Galicia). Iberdrola has 35 MW of hydroelectric pumping technology installed in Ourense.

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The Sil-Xares plant, with average production of 100GWh/year, is in the municipality of Vilamartín de Valdeorras and came into operation in 1969. It has four hydroelectric groups: two of them of flowing typology and called Santiago Sil, with a capacity of 14MW and a flow of 160 m3/s, and other two of Francis reversible type, with accumulation capacity by pumping (Santiago Xares) of 50MW of power and a flow of 18 m3/s.

Pumped storage facilities (gigabatteries) are essential to advance in the decarbonisation of the electricity system, Iberdrola said.

The latest example of Iberdrola's commitment to this technology is its Tâmega Hydroelectric Complex, with a total investment of more than €1.5 billion ($1.6 billion), an installed capacity of 1,158MW and an energy reserve of 40 million kWh.

Originally published on hydroreview.com