Hydraulic short circuit (hydropower)
The principle of the hydraulic short circuit is used in pumped storage power plants in order to make pump operation controllable in addition to turbine operation.
In contrast to the turbines , pumps cannot be regulated; In other words, they only know the operating status On or Off . If a pump now has a power consumption of 150 MW, for example, and there is a surplus of 100 MW in the power grid, the pump can only be operated by simultaneously generating the missing electrical power from the storage power plant. For this, part of the water is only pumped in order to use it again directly for the turbine operation and thus practically circulated, with corresponding losses due to pipe friction and the generator.
It is possible to avoid generator losses by delivering the remaining power required for pump operation by bypassing the generator and pump motor directly mechanically via a common drive shaft from the turbine. This principle is used in the Kopswerk II , the Obervermuntwerk II - both in the Austrian state of Vorarlberg , the Glems pumped storage plant near Metzingen (Baden-Württemberg) and in the Pfreimd power plant group (Bavaria). The hydraulic short circuit is also used in Austria's most powerful hydropower plant, the Malta main stage .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ - Kopswerk II - The new pumped storage power plant of Vorarlberger Illwerke AG in Gaschurn-Partenen. Vorarlberger Illwerke AG, p. 9 , accessed on February 23, 2011 .