Epe 2013043010100419
Epe 2013043010100419
Epe 2013043010100419
Received February 6, 2013; revised March 8, 2013; accepted March 22, 2013
Copyright © 2013 Jürgen Krenn et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License,
which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
ABSTRACT
The stability of the grid is jeopardized with the large percentage of non-dispatchable renewables like wind power and
also with increasing solar power. This creates various problems because these forms of energy are very volatile and
difficult to predict. In most countries the in-feed of these sources must not be curtailed. In addition most of the renew-
ables do not provide short circuit capacity and inertia in the same way as classical units and so further worsen the stabil-
ity of the grid. The growing exploitation of wind and solar might be limited due to grid stability problems. In order to
compensate those problems a large amount of reserve capacity is needed and therefore new technologies for electricity
storage are required. Hydraulic pumped storage—the classical storage technology—has some disadvantages. These
plants are in mountain regions often far away from wind farms. The distance to the wind farms mean additional loading
for the already stressed grid and additional transmission losses. To compensate the very volatile wind energy, the pump
input power should be varied continuously. This is so far only possible with variable speed units. Up to now double-fed
asynchronous motor-generators are used which are rather expensive. In order to provide a solution for the described
situation, ANDRITZ HYDRO has developed a new innovative concept of decentralized pump storage plants. Small
standardized pump turbines are combined with a synchronous motor-generator and a full size converter which allows
speed variation in pump and turbine mode over a wide range. These plants can be built locally close to wind farms and
other sources to be balanced, allowing the increase of renewable energy without increasing the transmission line capac-
ity. For the future smart grids this will be a key storage technology. This concept is reliable, innovative and more eco-
nomic than other storage technologies.
Keywords: Grid Stability; Pump Storage; Variable Speed; Full Size Converter; Wind Energy
1. Introduction In Europe two references are available, one for the plant
Avce, Slovenia installed by Hitachi and one for the plant
The main topics of the current discussions about the
Goldisthal, Germany, installed by Andritz Hydro (for-
change in the energy market are well-known. It is about
liberalisation, separation of production—transmission— merly VA TECH Escher Wyss).
distribution, increased application of renewable energy Goldisthal is one of the biggest pump storage power
and technologies free of carbon dioxide, visions of elec- plants in Europe and is equipped with four pump turbines,
tro mobility and smart grid [1]. two with constant speed and two with variable speed [2].
All over the world we face a growing public scepti- The pump turbines Goldisthal demonstrate with their
cism against the construction of large scale plants and the modern optimized design and the variable speed feasibil-
installation of new transmission lines. So the need for ity that operation behaviour under different heads can be
decentralized energy production is widespread, with fast extremely improved. Mechanical design together with
growing wind and solar energy generation. The follow- the civil structure has been optimised and not only the
ing questions arise: how can today’s grid infrastructure variable speed but also the fixed speed units show excel-
cope with this? Which type of energy storage method is lent operation behaviour [3].
required in the future? In that context which role plays The continuously growing demand for operating flexi-
hydro power and especially pumped storage? bility [4] has led to the current upswing for variable
The history of variable speed pump storage plants speed pumped storage in Europe. Therefore several
dates back to the 1990s. At this time several units have plants are under installation in Switzerland and Portugal
been put into operation by Hitachi and Toshiba in Japan. with planned commissioning in the next years.
While in fixed speed operation pump input power is increasing the capacity of transmission lines.
determined by the characteristics and the reservoir levels, Due to a full size converter, the pump input power can
the behaviour can be changed significantly with bringing be varied continuously in a wide range, the possible head
in a new parameter. Speed can be changed which turns variation is large and the efficiency characteristic in
the before strongly limited machine into a regulated one. pump and turbine mode is very flat over a wide operating
The machine becomes more flexible fulfilling the needs range (see Figures 6 and 7).
of today’s energy markets. With varying speed the flow Due to variable speed, the standardization comprises a
varies and consequently the pump input power varies few different types of machines only (see Figure 9). This
while the pump net head stays more or less constant. results in a cost advantage compared to tailor-made small
The already regulated machine with fixed speed in tur- hydraulic pumped storage units.
bine mode becomes “double” regulated with variable
speed which increases the flexibility even more. For 3.4. Targets in Developing the Concept
fixed speed the runner diameter and the synchronous
3.4.1. Hydraulic Models
speed are too large to allow operation at best efficiency
In order to keep costs low, the number of hydraulic mod-
within the turbine operating range. The runner diameter
els used in the concept had to be minimized. This saves
is given and cannot be changed, but the speed can be
engineering hours in the mechanical design because ma-
reduced. The reduced speed shifts the whole turbine effi-
chines can be repeated. In this way the same type of ma-
ciency characteristics inside the operating range. In the
chines can be used for various pumped storage applica-
whole operating range efficiencies are increased (see
tions.
Figures 6 and 7). At medium and smaller heads and at
part load this becomes much more pronounced with pos-
3.4.2. Machine Sizes
sible efficiency gains of the hydraulic machine of several
Due to the small number of machine sizes in the concept,
per cent. On the other hand the converter losses will re-
the probability to reuse an existing design is increased
duce the efficiency gain partly.
and so also costs are minimized.
Regarding the overall dimensions of the hydraulic
3.3. Characteristics of the Concept
machine, special care was taken to keep the machines as
In order to fulfil the needs of today’s market require- small as possible. Smaller machines contribute to lower
ments, ANDRITZ HYDRO has developed a new innova- manufacturing costs. In addition they require less space
tive concept (see Figure 8): resulting in lower civil work costs.
Small decentralized pump storage plants with;
Standardized pump turbines with variable speed; 3.4.3. Setting Level
Synchronous motor-generator; and In order to avoid cavitation at pump inlet, pump-turbines
Full size converter. require a certain submergence. This means the hydraulic
The hydraulic pumped storage plant can be built lo- machine has to be installed below the level of the lower
cally, close to renewable generation like wind farms. reservoir. Otherwise cavitation restrictions would make
This allows the increase of renewable energy without operation impossible. By well-selected hydraulic pump-
Figure 6. Turbine operation at variable speed: high efficiencies over wide range.
Figure 9. Application range of the new ANDRITZ HYDRO concept in pump mode.
Figure 10. Application range of the new ANDRITZ HYDRO concept in turbine mode.
tion and required power output. For example to balance By selecting multi-purpose reservoirs (for storage of
for a 50 MW wind park either two smaller machines energy, storage of drinking water, irrigation, flood con-
PTM1700 or one larger machine PTM2360 can be se- trol, snow cannon storage etc.) the construction costs of
lected. the civil part are not fully charged to the power plant.
The ANDRITZ HYDRO concept provides electricity
4. Benefits of the ANDRITZ HYDRO storage which is reliable, innovative and more economic
Concept than other storage technologies (batteries, etc.).
The standardized pump-turbine concept improves return
on investment for the customer. Due to its broad regula- REFERENCES
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