Pumped Storage Hydro

Iberdrola hybridizing battery with pumped storage hydro at Santiago Sil-Xares plant

Iberdrola hybridizing battery with pumped storage hydro at Santiago Sil-Xares plant
(photo courtesy Iberdrola)

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

The Santiago Sil-Xares plant, in the province of Ourense, has a storage capacity of almost 3,000 MWh. Iberdrola has all the permits and authorizations for the improvement and optimization of the pumped storage power plant. The project consists of the installation of a static starter and a 5 MWh 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 authorized 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 230 m.

Iberdrola is consolidating its investment effort to optimize its current facilities with pumped storage technology, which provides more than 3,000 MW of capacity in Spain), as well as to promote new storage facilities (such as the 1,800 MW Conso II project in Galicia). Iberdrola has 350 MW of hydroelectric pumping technology installed in Ourense.

The Sil-Xares plant, with average production of 100 GWh/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 14 MW and a flow of 160 m3/s, and other two of Francis reversible type, with accumulation capacity by pumping (Santiago Xares) of 50 MW of power and a flow of 18 m3/s.

Pumped storage facilities (gigabatteries) are essential to advance in the decarbonization 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, an installed capacity of 1,158 MW and an energy reserve of 40 million kWh.