Converteam Variable Speed Systems Selected for Hydroelectric Pumped Storage Plants in Switzerland

Berlin, 6 July 2010 – Converteam, the power conversion specialist, was awarded €25m contracts by Alstom Switzerland Ltd to supply state-of-the-art variable speed drives for the Nant de Drance and Linthal hydroelectric pumped storage power plants.

Power plants with variable speed turbines offer the most effective green energy storage solutions, pumping water to a higher elevation during low-cost off-peak times and releasing the power through the same pump-turbines during periods of high demand. Their high flexibility enabled by variable speed drives represents a key asset for the development of renewable energy sources such as wind and solar energy, which feed power into the grid intermittently.

A variable speed turbine solution applied by Converteam has been successfully used for the 1060MW hydro plant in Goldisthal, Germany which features as well the start-up process and allows the optimized control over the grid fluctuations during operation. The Linthal 2015-PSW Limmern plant will add 1000MW to the existing 450MW plant and will use four pump turbines with a capacity of 250MW each while the Nant de Drance plant will use four pump turbines with a capacity of 157MW with a combined power of 600MW.

Converteam is supplying eight MV7000 inverter systems each with a rating from 32MW to 37MW in order to control the asynchrounous motor/generators as well as erection, supervision and commissioning services. The completion of both power plants is due to take place between 2015 and 2017.

Editor’s note

The utility NDD SA, which is owned by ALPIQ, SBB (Swiss railroad company) and Forces Motrices Valaisannes (FMV) is the operating company in charge of the planned Nant de Drance PPSP. The power plant is to be built in the canton of Wallis. The pumped power storage plant, Linthal 2015 – PSW Limmern will be operated by Kraftwerke Linth-Limmern AG, which is owned 15% by the canton of Glarus and 85% by Axpo AG.

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