PVPUMP

Partners: ETHZ (FEN), Repower
Duration: 11/2023 - 11/2024
Funding: SGEN
Project Leader: ETHZ (FEN)
Project Team: Dr. Alexander Fuchs, Dr. Adamantios Marinakis, Dr. Turhan Demiray

Final report (in German)

Main research question: What are the benefits of a new pumped-storage power plant from an overall system perspective, especially for the integration of photovoltaics?
Potential use cases: close the winter gap, integrate solare PV (normal and alpine), support the ES2050+ goals for RES, relieve the network during redispatch
How can pump storages support these use cases?
When should the pump storage be available?

Pumpstorage power plants store electricity for the duration of hours to a few weeks.
The winter gap of Switzerland is distributed at intermittent intervals with the duration of hours to a few weeks.
The future import capacities from other European market zones to Switzerland are uncertain and could be reduced.
Several initiatives for alpine photovoltaics aim at closing the winter gap but can not operate during night.

Create future reference scenarios (prices, system demand, PV-generation) for different use cases.
Quantify benefit of pump storage for different system levels (local, Swiss, European).
Redispatch and congestion management with pump storage.
Economic cost-benefit analysis.