- The Nant de Drance power station in Valais can produce a lot of electricity and support electricity and wind energy.
- It will be officially inaugurated on Friday, but it has been productive since July.
- At 900 megawatts per hour, the output should roughly correspond to that of the Gösgen nuclear power plant.
To put it simply, the new pumped-storage power plant works like a huge battery. If there is too much power in the system, it can be used to pump water up.
When electricity is needed, the plant can switch very quickly, draining a lot of water and thus producing a lot of electricity.
Legend:
The performance of Nant de Drance should correspond to that of the Gösgen nuclear power plant.
Keystone/Laurent Gillieron
Leonore Hälg is co-head of climate and renewable energy at the Swiss Energy Foundation SES. She says: The new, large power plant supports the conversion to solar and wind energy. «Renewable energies such as photovoltaics and wind turbines only produce electricity when the sun is shining or the wind is blowing. Nant de Drance helps to store this electricity and release it again when it is used up.»
Nant de Drance helps to store electricity from renewable energies and release it again when it is used.
This is particularly useful for the short-term storage of electricity. But in order to solve the looming problem of a power shortage, the solar power generated in summer would have to be stored for the winter. “Nant de Drance can only partially help. The hydroelectric power plants are intended for seasonal storage.»
Legend:
Nant de Drance can’t really help with seasonal electricity storage.
Keystone/Laurent Gillieron
But: With Nant de Drance, short-term bottlenecks in the system could also be bridged in winter. So the new pumped storage power plant is not the solution to Switzerland’s energy problems, but a piece of the puzzle on the way to a solution in winter too.