The energy group Uniper wants to restart the Happurg pumped storage power plant east of Nuremberg by 2028. The company is investing around 250 million euros in this, a spokesman said on Thursday. According to CEO Michael Lewis, the power plant should help Uniper achieve its self-imposed goal of 80 percent climate-neutral generation capacity by 2030.
Another point is the reliability of electricity production. “In southern Germany in particular, with its strong industrial demand, there is a lack of predictable power plant output. With the Happurg pumped storage power plant, we want to make more storage capacity available again,” said Lewis.
According to Uniper, the pumped storage power plant has an output of 160 megawatts (MW), a head of 209 meters and can store energy for around 850 megawatt hours (MWh) of electricity in the form of pumped-up water. It is therefore the largest pumped storage power plant in Bavaria.
In 2011, the power plant was shut down due to damage in the upper reservoir. Investigations followed and a plan was drawn up as to how the power plant could be operated economically again. According to the information, the plant technology in the power house is now to be repaired by the planned start of operations in 2028.
In a pumped storage power plant, water is pumped into a reservoir by electric pumps. The water can then be used to generate electricity when it is released through turbines. This allows energy to be stored in times of low electricity demand and released again in times of increased demand. This can be particularly important with regard to feeding wind and solar energy into the power grid.