Energy and Power Engineering, 2013, 5, 48-54

http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/epe.2013.52A007 Published Online April 2013 (http://www.scirp.org/journal/epe)

Small and Mid-Size Pump-Turbines with Variable Speed

Jürgen Krenn, Helmut Keck, Manfred Sallaberger
Andritz Hydro Ltd., Zurich, Switzerland
Email: contact-hydro@andritz.com

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.

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 J. KRENN ET AL. 49

2. Demand of Energy Storage

The percentage of renewable energy in the electricity
portfolio is increasing all over the world. This creates
various problems because the wind and solar energy is
very volatile (see Figure 1) and difficult to predict and it
is permitted to curtail these in-feeds. If the weather con-
ditions are good then energy is produced and it has to be
taken by “the grid”, thus in reality by the consumer.
Therefore the stability of the grid is in danger with large
percentage of non-dispatchable wind power and also with
increasing solar power. In all cases the transmission sys-
tem operator has to ensure that the grid stability is still
maintained. Figure 1. Example for wind production.
The further exploitation of wind might be limited due
to grid stability issues. In order to handle this situation a
large amount of reserve capacity is needed and therefore
new technologies for electricity storage are required.
The classical storage technology is hydraulic pumped
storage. However, large hydraulic pumped storage plants
are in mountain regions often far away from wind farms.
The distance between these plants and 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 was so far only possible with
variable speed units (double-fed asynchronous motor-
generators). These units are rather expensive and are of-
ten designed as large scale plants. Therefore the public
acceptance to realize them is low and the approval proc- Figure 2. Operating range in pump mode.
ess to build may take long and is difficult.
the runner.
3. The New Concept of Small and Mid-Size Drawing this consideration further, one can conclude
Pump-Turbines that a pump-turbine is always too large to operate as a
turbine. Best efficiencies of the turbine characteristics are
In order to provide a solution for above mentioned prob- outside the actual operating range of the machine (see
lems, ANDRITZ HYDRO has developed a new innova-
Figure 3)—one of the drawbacks of a pump-turbine op-
tive concept. In order to establish deeper understanding
erating with fixed speed.
of that concept, first some insights in the heart of the
In order to define the limits of the operating range,
hydraulic machine are presented.
suction and pressure side cavitation limits and the pump
stability limit have to be known.
3.1. Hydraulic Layout of Pump-Turbines At larger heads cavitation starts at the suction side of
To determine the size of a pump-turbine some basic input the runner blade inlet in pump mode. As the velocity
data is required. Variation of the upper and lower reser- triangle changes towards lower heads, vapour pressure
voir level, flow or power and the head losses are essential occurs at the pressure side of the blade in pump mode.
in order to start the layout. An additional limitation occurs at the operation at large
The hydraulic layout of a pump-turbine is done as a heads in pump mode due to instable flow phenomena in
pump. The maximum pump net head is determined by the hydraulic machine. Recirculation zones occur when
adding the head losses to the static head (see Figure 2) the flow in pump mode minimizes and the pump pressure
while in turbine operation the head losses are subtracted goes towards its maximum. Flow and power swings are
from the static head. Consequently the maximum net the consequence which neither allows stable operation
head in pump mode is larger than the maximum net head nor synchronization.
in turbine mode. Therefore maximum net head in pump Especially for wide operating ranges—which often
mode is decisive for the hydraulic layout of the machine occur at pumped storage plants with lower heads—pres-
and determines the size of the pump outlet diameter of sure and suction side cavitation substantially reduces the

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50 J. KRENN ET AL.

Figure 3. Pump-turbine characteristics for fixed speed operation.

usable range of application (see Figure 4, range No. 1).

Large submergences are required to prevent cavitation
abrasion. However, increasing submergences mean a low
setting level of the machine which results in high civil
work costs.
The above described cavitation effect occurs at ex-
treme maximum and minimum head. At medium heads
in the middle of the operating range (see Figure 4) the
flow angle in pump mode corresponds much better to the
geometrical blade angle. Therefore cavitation behaviour
in this range is much better. However this advantage
cannot be used in fixed speed operation.
In turbine mode the guide vane mechanism is used to
regulate the machine, i.e. to change the flow and there-
fore power output. Regardless of the head the flow can
be varied and the required power delivered to the grid
can be controlled.
This property is not existent in pump mode. Changing Figure 4. Influence of width of operating range on setting
the guide vane angle has very little effect on the power level.
input. By closing the guide vanes the flow reduces but at
the same time efficiency decreases. This leads to no sig- ply changing the speed. At maximum head where the
nificant change in power input. Consequently a pump- machine comes close to suction side cavitation the speed
turbine with fixed speed cannot be regulated in pump can be reduced to have pump inflow angles which better
mode by changing the guide vane angle. The plant op- correspond to the geometrical runner blade angle. Vice
versa at minimum head the speed can be increased to
erator has no possibility to control power. Depending on
avoid pressure side cavitation and to extend the operating
the pump characteristics the upper and lower reservoir
range to larger flow.
level determines the flow which the machine pumps and
The machine can always be operated at best efficiency
therefore defines how much power is consumed from the
point in pump mode. With varying head the speed is ad-
grid. This unfavourable behaviour of the machine fits
justed to have flow angles which result in the highest
less and less to today’s market requirements.
possible efficiencies. Water resources are saved because
less flow is required for the same pump input power.
3.2. Operation at Variable Speed
As mentioned above one further advantage of the op-
Seeing the strong limitations of the operation at one sin- eration at best efficiency point is the improved cavitation
gle speed, immediately the question arises what happens behaviour. Less submergence is necessary which leads to
when the speed is varied (see Figure 5). Above men- reduced costs of the civil works which is a major part of
tioned cavitation limitations can be side-stepped by sim- the total costs of a new power plant.

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 J. KRENN ET AL. 51

Figure 5. Pump-turbine characteristics for variable speed operation.

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-

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52 J. KRENN ET AL.

Figure 6. Turbine operation at variable speed: high efficiencies over wide range.

3.4.4. Design Adaptations

The concept is based on well-proven pump-turbine de-
signs [5,6] of ANDRITZ HYDRO for which model and
site tests have been performed. Hydraulic design adapta-
tions were performed to adapt to models to the new con-
cept in order to keep costs low.
In the development of the concept, advantage has been
taken of the widely used and long-term proven Compact
Hydro series. Experience gained during many years in
Compact Hydro business has been used to develop the
new pump-turbine series.
Figure 7. Turbine operation at variable speed: high efficien-
cies over wide range. 3.4.5. Standardization
Standardized electro-mechanical components (including
full size converter) are used to shorten delivery times (e.g.
no model test are required) and to minimize costs.

3.5. Application Range of New Concept

The new Andritz Hydro concept was developed for heads
up to 250 m, flow rates of 40 m3/s and a maximum power
output of 50 MW. With the concept both low head and
Figure 8. Electro-mechanical components of the ANDRITZ high head pumped storage plants can be realized. The
HYDRO concept. whole application range is covered with two hydraulic
models with a total number of 17 machine sizes (see
turbine models, the submergence could be reduced to a Figure 10).
minimum. This makes the new concept an even more The customer can select the appropriate model, for
economical solution. example PTM1700, which corresponds to his head varia-

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 J. KRENN ET AL. 53

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.

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54 J. KRENN ET AL.

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
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