3/20/2023 0 Comments Alpus water![]() ![]() Lab tests conducted by Cairns Regional Council showed almost no detectable sodium fluoride levels, or any other harmful/dangerous chemicals. “If we want to go in the direction of having clean power, Nant de Drance is one of the stepping stones on this path,” he says.Alps is a natural gravity fed water filtration system that is designed to remove all types of contaminants in tap water via a ten stage filtration process. Pumped storage hydropower could provide energy security outside of Europe, too: Blakers and his team have identified around 600,000 potential sites for closed loop systems – although just 1% of these would be needed to meet total global energy storage needs, he adds.Īs the climate crisis intensifies, Gleitz hopes that Europe embraces the potential of the “clean energy storage” provided by pumped storage hydropower plants. “We still need to have closer agreements with the EU.” “The market rules are not easy,” he says. However, as the nation is not a member of the European Union, regulations are currently a barrier, says Gleitz. Nant de Drance has increased Switzerland’s installed energy capacity by 33%, says Ellis, adding that it “shows the leadership of Switzerland” in the transition to renewables. Located at the geographical heart of Europe, Switzerland could offer stability to the grid across the continent, says Rebecca Ellis, energy policy manager at the non-profit International Hydropower Association. That’s why Nant de Drance is so significant. The turbines are stored in an underground cavern the length of two football fields. In the decade between 20, just 8 gigawatts of storage was added to the grid. The European Association for Storage of Energy estimates that the continent will need 200 gigawatts of storage by 2030 – more than four times its current storage capacity. To achieve this, new, high-capacity storage facilities are essential, says Blakers. Hoping to become the “ first climate-neutral continent,” Europe has big ambitions for renewable energy: in 2020, just over one-fifth of the continent’s total energy came from renewable sources but in May this year, the European Commission increased its 2030 renewables target from 40% to 45%. Nant de Drance returns around 80% of the electricity it takes in back to the grid, and stores around 20 hours of backup energy, says Gleitz. He estimates that to power a city with one million inhabitants for 24 hours would require around two square kilometers of flooded land, adding that pumped storage hydropower offers one of the highest efficiency energy storage solutions currently available. “The era of dam building is nearly over,” says Blakers, adding that these closed loop power plants take up a relatively small space given the energy security they provide. Is the biggest greenhouse in the US the future of farming? Unlike many of the plants that preceded it, Nant de Drance uses variable speed pump-turbines, says Pascal Radue, CEO of GE Renewable Energy Hydro which supplied equipment for the facility. “We can take energy (from the grid) when there is too much, and generate it again when it’s needed,” says Gleitz. Pumped storage hydropower plants, which have been around for over a century, are particularly important for renewable energy because wind and solar rely heavily on the weather and don’t provide a consistent power supply. Nant de Drance repurposed two existing reservoirs, raising the upper one by 21.5 meters (71 feet) to double its capacity – it now holds more water than 6,500 Olympic-sized swimming pools.Īs one of the largest facilities of its kind, the $2 billion project could play a vital role in stabilizing Europe’s electricity grid as the continent transitions to renewable energy, says Gleitz. The six turbines are powered by water cascading down a steel pipe that's taller than the Eiffel Tower.
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