Hanover, 25 April (Argus) — Austrian construction group Strabag is considering building a pumped storage power plant in the eastern German state of Thuringia.
The plant would have an installed capacity of either 640MW or 380MW, depending on the site chosen. Investment costs would be around €750mn ($980mn) for the larger project, and €450mn for the smaller one.
Strabag expects to decide in about a year's time whether it will pursue just one or both projects, and will make a final investment decision in about four years time, once it has secured permission. Strabag would then seek a partner from the energy sector to co-operate in building the plant.
Construction would take around five years, and the power plant could go on line around 2021. Such a project would not be economical in current market condition, but this is expected to change, a Strabag project manager said this week. The main criteria are the topographic suitability, the availability of sufficient water and the proximity of power lines. It would also depend on political and community support.
The company will look at potential sites in Ellrich, a town in the district of Nordhausen that is located on the southern edge of the Harz mountains, which would host the bigger project but is less well connected to the high-voltage grid, and in Leutenberg or Probstzella, both municipalities in Saalfeld-Rudolstadt district, and located in the Thuringian forest. The Ellrich site would have a storage capacity of 6.3mn m³ of water, and the Leutenberg-Probstzella site would hold 4.1mn m³.
The Thuringian state economy ministry presented a list of 13 sites suitable for pumped storage plants in the state in 2011. Municipal utility group Trianel is also working on a 1GW pumped storage power plant project at the Schmalwasser dam in the Thuringian forest.
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