Official Start for German Pumped Storage Plant Waldeck I

Customer E.on Wasserkraft GmbH invested a total of about 52 million Euros into Waldeck I to realize a new state-of-the-art station and to carry out the rehabilitation of the existing plant from the 1930s which was due for modernization after decades of reliable operation.

The guests of the ceremony shared a common understanding: Supplying peak energy in times of high demand is essential to flexibly balance variations in the electric grid and - with the growth of other renewable energies like wind and solar - will become even more important in the future. In her inauguration speech the Hessian Environmental Secretary Silke Lautenschlaeger made it very clear: She is convinced that the modernization of existing pumped storage plants as well as building additional plants is part of a forward-looking energy policy in Germany.

Voith Hydro together with the consortium partner for civil construction, Bilfinger Berger, developed the overall technical concept for Waldeck I power plant. As the design of pumped power plants has changed quite significantly since the 1930s and the requirements for their operation have been rising continually, a new pumped storage station with an output of 74 MW has been built.

The upper reservoir has been refurbished and two turbines of the old Waldeck I plant have been modernized. These two units will remain in place in order to provide the so called tertiary control.

"Waldeck stands for a long-lasting partnership of Voith Hydro and E.on", said Martin Andrä, Chairman of the Board of Management of Voith Hydro’s German Operating Unit: "Already in 1932, the machines for this pumped storage plant came from Voith and were examples for cutting-edge technology at their time. We are proud to be part of and partner for Waldeck for such a long time now. This is what we mean when we say Engineered reliability."