GE to deliver pumped storage technology for Spanish hydropower project

GE has secured a contract from Red Elctrica to supply six pumped storage turbines for the 200MW Chira Soria pumped storage power plant in Gran Canaria, Spain.

The contract was secured in a consortium with Cobra Infrastructuras Hidrulicas.

Red Elctrica is the sole transmission agent as well as the operator of Spains national electricity system.

Red Elctrica non-peninsular territories system operation director Juan Bola Merino stated: Chira Soria is key to the Canary Islands electricity system.

It has been designed with the highest environmental standards to guarantee its integration with the minimum visual impact 91% of the infrastructures are underground.

This project reinforces security and guarantees the electricity supply by increasing the power capacity in the system, key for an isolated system. It also boosts the integration of renewable energies into the system by using the surplus generation, thanks to its storage capacity.

GE will commission, design, supply and transport the turbines and deliver generators, main transformers and electrical balance-of-plant equipment.

The storage units and the hydropower project will support Gran Canarias energy transition and grid stabilisation by acting as giant natural batteries.

They will become operational in 2027 and have a 3.5 gigawatt-hour (GWh) energy storage capacity.

GE Hydro Solutions president and CEO Pascal Radue stated: As renewable energy generation from wind and solar is increasing in Gran Canaria, this pumped storage project will help balance the grid by dispatching the energy when needed, still with renewable energy.

Hydropower is the largest source of energy storage that exists right now and represents 95% of all energy stored today. Using water from the sea also demonstrates that, with ingenuity, hydropower can reach new heights.