Koralm pumped storage power plant

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Koralm pumped storage power plant
location
Koralm pumped storage power plant (Styria)
Koralm pumped storage power plant
Coordinates 46 ° 48 '15 "  N , 15 ° 2' 3"  E Coordinates: 46 ° 48 '15 "  N , 15 ° 2' 3"  E
country Austria
Data
Type pumped storage power plant
Primary energy Hydropower
Project start
f2
f2

The Koralm pumped storage power plant is a planned pumped storage power plant in the Koralm region in western Styria . With a projected maximum output of around 960 megawatts, it would be the most powerful power plant in Styria .

Project description

The project location of the power plant in the Deutschlandsberg district is on the eastern roof of the Koralm. An upper storage facility is to be built on the Glitzalm between Frauenkogel and Ochsenofen at 1738 m above sea level. It should be able to store 4.9 million m³ of water, and an approximately 640 m long planted earth embankment will serve as a closing dam. The sub-storage is planned in the valley area of ​​the Seebach (field name Waldsteinbauer) at an altitude of 1082 m (storage target) and should have a net storage capacity of 4.5 million m³. He is to receive a rock rubble dam as a closing dam. The two basins should be connected by pump and pressure lines.

The power station is planned as a cavern power plant with a maximum output of around 970 MW in pump mode and around 960 MW in turbine mode. Four ternary machine sets are provided as machines. The cavern is to be accessed via a 2,343 m long access tunnel.

The project location is within the scope of the Alpine Convention , the location of the upper reservoir is also in the Koralpe European protected area . Around 15 hectares of forest have to be cleared for the project .

functionality

The electricity is to be fed directly into the nearby 380 kV high-voltage line.

The planned system is used to store electrical energy by pumping up water. If there is a need for energy in the power grid, electricity is generated by pumps and generators, whereby the water is fed into the sub-storage. In times of excess energy in the network, the water should be pumped back into the upper storage tank.

After a one-time extraction of water from the Seebach (duration about two years), the water cycle should represent an almost closed system. Any losses due to evaporation should be compensated for by precipitation or mountain water .

history

The operating company Pumpspeichererkraftwerk Koralm GmbH was founded in August 2012. The project was presented to the affected communities for the first time in January 2013.

In May 2016, the State of Styria determined in a notification that no environmental impact assessment (EIA) was necessary for the project because the land to be built on was not in a landscape protection area, and they did not see the construction as a hydropower plant due to the lack of diversion. Environmentalists appealed against the decision. On August 10, 2016, the Federal Administrative Court decided that an EIA had to be carried out for the project. An objection against it by the operator was rejected as unfounded by the administrative court.

criticism

Criticism of the planned construction project comes from neighbors as well as from nature and environmental protection organizations.

The market town of Schwanberg feared that it would not be able to obtain the desired designation as a health resort “ Bad Schwanberg ” due to the construction site traffic .

In the course of the initiation of the EIA, the citizens' initiative "No to the Koralm Industrial Park" was founded and rejected the project. She criticizes the fact that the planned Glitzkar site has been nominated as a Natura 2000 area and fears numerous negative effects on nature and water bodies ( Schwarze Sulm , Seebach, ...) in the region. The project operator's statement that the pumped storage power plant should be used to store wind energy is countered by the citizens' initiative that pumped storage power plants can only be operated economically with cheap electricity from nuclear or coal-fired power plants, since green electricity achieves the highest prices on the electricity market . These concerns are shared by the Austrian Alpine Association , which at a press conference in July 2019 also pointed out the project's threat to five hiking trails .

Operator and costs

The project operator is the Koralm GmbH pumped storage power plant , which is 50 percent owned by Alfred Liechtenstein's Mohik-Wertholz GmbH , 48 percent by Peter Masser's Sonnhof Entwicklungs GmbH and one percent each by Andritz Hydro GmbH and Porr Bau GmbH .

The cost of the project was rumored to be 800–1000 million euros.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. a b c d e Office of the Styrian Provincial Government (ed.): EIA report for the Koralm pumped storage power plant project - findings and reports from the forest ecology and forestry department . Graz August 22, 2018 ( online on the state's website [PDF; 5.4 MB ]).
  2. a b c d e Koralm pumped storage power plant: EIA necessary. In: ORF . August 16, 2016, accessed October 8, 2018 .
  3. a b c EIA unavoidable for the power station on the Koralm. In: ORF . May 5, 2017. Retrieved October 8, 2018 .
  4. Günter Pilch: Gigantic power plant planned for the Koralm. In: Small newspaper . January 10, 2013, accessed October 8, 2018 .
  5. Construction of the Koralm power plant without EIA? In: ORF . May 20, 2016, accessed October 8, 2018 .
  6. EIA negotiations on Koralm power plant started. In: ORF . October 8, 2018, accessed October 8, 2018 .
  7. Citizens' initiative “No to the Koralm industrial park”. In: koralmschutz-jetzt.at. Retrieved June 27, 2019 .
  8. Koralm pump storage facility. In: koralmschutz-jetzt.at. Retrieved June 27, 2019 .
  9. "Attack on Austria's Green Heart". PES in: APA-OTS . July 17, 2019, accessed July 23, 2019.