The pumped-storage hydro power plant (PSHPP) Bistrica, one of the most important projects of Elektroprivreda Srbije, will provide the maximum exploitation of green energy and flexible withdrawal of surplus energy from the grid, and also represents a permanent solution to the challenges of the transition, such as balancing, i.e. primary and secondary regulation, said Predrag Mlađenović, Assistant Executive Director for Technical Affairs of Coal and Energy Production in the Hydropower and Renewable Energy Sources Sector, at the conference “Building the Region", which was held in Trebinje on June 18 and 19.
He pointed out that the PSHPP Bistrica, which will be built on the Uvac River, will be a specific energy capacity.
- Two studies show that 25 to 30 percent of energy can be provided from renewable inflows from power plants upstream on the Uvac River. Accordingly, the Feasibility Study has been adjusted, and the old technical solutions are being modified because the technological aspects have changed. Today we have more advanced technology than 30 or 40 years ago, when the PSHPP Bajina Bašta was built. This PSHPP needs certain volume of inflow and surplus energy in the system to be withdrawn, and the technology is such that 300 MW must be withdrawn from the grid – said Mlađenović at the panel “Energy of the Future: Big Projects, Big Risks".
Today's technologies make it possible to change the pumping power of units, which do not have to pump maximum energy. In the project of the PSHPP Bistrica, a power plant with a variable rotation speed is planned.
- This means that with four units, with a capacity of 175 MVA each, we can look for surplus energy in the system, which can be even lower, 150 or 130 MVA. This allows for variability of pumping, i.e. the consumption of surplus energy. Even now we have surpluses at certain hours, especially when solar panels are in the full phase of exploitation, and further expansion is planned. A lot of RES projects will need balancing. Batteries are a balance, but time will tell if this is a permanent solution. It is certain that PSHPPs are a permanent solution to the challenges during the transition, not only for energy balancing, but also for power balancing, primary and secondary regulation. All this can help us make the best use of RES, primarily wind and solar – concluded Mlađenović.
