Ludington Pumped Storage Power Station
| Ludington Pumped Storage Power Station | ||
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| location | ||
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| Coordinates | 43 ° 53 '37 " N , 86 ° 26' 43" W | |
| country |
 United States
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| place | Ludington (Michigan) | |
| Waters | Lake Michigan | |
| power plant | ||
| technology | ||
| Bottleneck performance | 1872 megawatts | |
| Expansion flow | 2080 m³ / s | |
| Turbines | 6 pump turbines | |
| Others | ||
The Ludington Pumped Storage Power Plant is a pumped storage power station with a high-altitude reservoirs in Ludington , Michigan , United States. It was built between 1969 and 1973 at a cost of $ 315 million, jointly owned by Consumers Energy and Detroit Edison, and operated by Consumers Energy. At the time of completion it was the largest pumped storage power plant in the world. Today it is the second largest pumped storage power plant in the world after Bath County Pumped Storage Station, which is also located in the USA .
Technical specifications
It consists of a reservoir that is 34 m deep, 4 km long and 1.6 km wide and holds 100 million m³ of water. The length of the ring dam is 9600 m. The 3.3 km² reservoir is located on the shores of Lake Michigan . Because impermeable rock is only 240 m below the basin, the builders had to seal the reservoir with layers of asphalt and clay to prevent the water from seeping away.
The power station consists of six reversible turbines that can each generate 312 MW of electrical power, that is 1,872 MW. The water is led from the upper reservoir through six pressure pipes , each 330 m long and tapering from 8.5 m to 7.3 m in diameter, to the turbines. An expansion to 2172 MW is planned. The six turbines are to be replaced by more powerful ones by 2019; each turbine is to have an output of 50 MW more.
At night, when electricity demand is low, the turbines run in reverse to pump water from Lake Michigan 110 meters into the reservoir. The power plant uses the naturally steep sand formation on the eastern shore of the lake. During periods of high demand, water is drained to generate electricity. Power generation can begin within two minutes, with the maximum output of 1,872 MW being reached in less than 30 minutes. The maximum water flow is more than 2080 m³ / s.
This process helps to cover peaks in demand in the network that cannot be covered as quickly by the coal-fired power plants that run at the base load. It also replaces gas power plants for this peak demand. The Ludington pumped storage power plant is connected to the grid by three 345 kV high voltage lines , all owned by Michigan Electric Transmission Company (METC), a subsidiary of ITC Holdings .
Award
In 1973 the project received an award for “Outstanding Achievement in Civil Engineering” from the American Society of Civil Engineers .
expansion
Consumers Energy has plans to expand the facility and increase the performance of the pumps by up to 9%. Consumers Energy also plans to use wind power along the east coast of Lake Michigan with wind turbines . Because the wind has an irregular effect and delivers large amounts of energy at times when it is not needed, it is desirable to have pumped storage systems near wind farms. The available pumped storage capacity partially limits the maximum contribution that wind power can make to the energy supply of a region.
swell
- ↑ VDI-Lexikon Energietechnik quoted from Achim Dittmann: Energy storage: Bad weather - no energy? (PDF file; 2.44 MiB) p. 61 , archived from the original on January 5, 2012 ; Retrieved on August 11, 2015 (Technical University of Dresden, Environmental Ring Lecture 2008).
- ↑ a b water power , accessed on August 19, 2013
- ↑ Past Outstanding Civil Engineering Achievement Awards, American Society of Civil Engineers ( Memento of the original from October 10, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed February 12, 2011
- ↑ a b Shoreline generates interest in power , Dave Alexander, The Muskegon Chronicle, April 12, 2008, accessed February 12, 2011
