Iberdrola switches on 210 GWh Spanish pumped hydro-battery project

Spanish utility Iberdrola has begun commissioning the first stage of the Valdecañas pumping station near Cáceres, in the autonomous community of Extremadura.

The completed hydroelectric site will have a 225 MW generation capacity plus a 15 MW/7.5 MWh hybrid battery and will add 210 GWh of energy storage capacity to the local Tajo grid.

Iberdrola said the project has used existing infrastructure at the site, including electricity transmission lines, and did not need to alter the levels of the Valdecañas and Torrejón-Tajo reservoirs. The fact the work has been purely electromechanical ensures it has had minimal environmental impact.

The utility is also developing what it describes as the largest hydroelectric power station in Iberia, a EUR 1.5 billion- ($1.62 billion)plus, 1.8 GW/4 GWh site in Ourense, in the Sil basin, between Vilariño de Conso and Viana. The project will link the Cenza reservoir, one of the highest in Spain, with the Bao reservoir, 690 m below.

Iberdrola began testing hybrid pumping, with a system featuring a battery, at the Santiago Sil-Xares power plant, at the end of 2024. A static starter was installed, together with a 5 MWh battery, at the site in the municipality of Vilamartín de Valdeorras, in Ourense. The addition of starter and battery will enable the existing 50 MW/3 GWh pumping operation, between two rivers separated by an altitude of 230 m, to be connected to the grid more quickly and flexibly.

The Spanish business of Iberdrola has 18 PHES sites with a total project capacity of 6 GW and in September was given the go-ahead to develop an additional, 440 MW/16 GWh PHES site in Alcántara, Cáceres. That project will provide 37 hours of stored energy to the grid, according to Iberdrola.

From pv magazine España.