Alstom Secures Austrian Hydropower Deal

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Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland) - One of Austria's newest pumped storage hydropower stations will be powered by twin generators from French engineering firm, Alstom S.A. (OTC:ALSMY) (Paris, France).

The company has been contracted to supply the Obervermuntwerk II pumped-storage power project with two specially designed generators with an output capacity of 180-megawatts (MW) each. Alstom will also assemble the machines and commission them in 2018. The combined 360 MW output will make Obervermuntwerk II the second largest power station of project owner, Voralberger Illwerke AG (Bregenz, Austria).

Josef Reisel, Managing Director of Alstom Renewable Austria GmbH in Vienna, argued that the project is ideal for supplementing intermittent renewable energy. "Given the expansion of intermittent energy production sources (wind, solar etc.) which increases the need for storage, pumped storage will play a greater role in tomorrow's energy market. It is the most efficient and flexible form of storing electricity on a grid scale, enabling utilities to respond quickly to demand and balance the grid, replacing the fossil fuels traditionally used during peak demand periods with renewable CO2 free energy."

The Obervermuntwerk II power plant is designed to work alongside the existing Obervermuntwerk station. It will be constructed at an altitude of 1,700 metres above sea level, as an underground station between the two reservoirs Silvretta and Vermunt in Montafon.

Alstom said that in terms of flexibility, pumped-storage power plants can increase by up to 33% the rated power for partial load operation range, making it easy to adjust to the capacity required in the grid.

Austria is one of Europe's leading hydropower nations. In 2012, installed hydro capacity stood at almost 10,600 MW. It accounts for 47% of the country's total electricity demand and almost 63% of the country's renewable energy capacity.

Today, Alstom is developing 3,000 MW of variable speed pumped storage plants worldwide including Nant de Drance (6 units x 157 MW), Linthal (4 x 250 MW) in Switzerland and Tehri (4 x 250 MW) in India.

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