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The base of the prosperity of modern societies and economic growth is the reliable supply with energy, especially electric energy. With the continuing digitalization, automatization, the upcoming electromobilty and of course the growing human population, the demand of electricity will increase further in the next decades. A fundamental requirement for the perpetuation of the electric energy supply is the balance between electricity generation and demand at any time. Therefore, energy storage technologies and flexible power plants have been used since the beginnings of electricity utilization for a demand-based electric supply. The main and highly reliable storage technology for electric energy since more than 100 years have been pumped storage hydropower plants. It’s remarkable that 96% of all energy storages worldwide with an entire installed capacity of 165 GW have been pumped storage hydropower plants in 2017.
In a world of energy increasingly dominated by volatile renewable energy generation, energy storage capacities are even more indispensable for a reliable and efficient energy future and safe energy supply. Environmentally friendly pumped storage hydropower plants not only store energy, deliver immediately large amounts of power or level grid fluctuations, they also provide valuable grid stabilizations and suite future requirements for a clean and renewable energy supply perfectly.
This book is addressed to this reliable energy storage technology. It’s a comprehensive general reference work about the main 23 pumped storage hydropower plants from six hydropower companies in Austria. Every pumped storage scheme is described by an extensive representation of their reservoirs, the power waterway and the power station with technical information and details in tabular form, graphics and pictures. Short contributions, site plans and longitudinal sketches give an additional overview. Not least, all structures are represented with impressive photos. The publication is completed with Austrian experts’ contributions about hydropower use in Austria, hydrology, geology, dam safety, water resources management and future challenges of the power economy.
The book was published by the Austrian National Committee on Large Dams and the Institute of Hydraulic Engineering and Water Resources Management, Graz University of Technology, at the 26th World Congress of the International Commission on Large Dams (ICOLD) in Vienna, July 2018.