The Grand Maison facility has been chosen as one of the demonstration sites for the EU-funded XFLEX HYDRO project to test a set of smart technologies for boosting the grid stabilisation capability of hydroelectric facilities.
The 160m-tall and 550m-long Grand Maison rock-filled embankment dam is located at an altitude of 1,695m. It creates the facility''s upper reservoir called Lac de Grand Maison which has a storage capacity of 140 million cubic metres. The majority of water in the upper reservoir comes from melted snow.
The Grand Maison pumped storage power station comprises two powerhouses that include an above-ground powerhouse for conventional hydropower generation and an underground powerhouse for both pumping and electricity generation.
The surface powerhouse is equipped with four multi-jet Pelton turbine generator units of 158.5MW capacity each. The head height for the powerhouse is 922m, while the total discharge capacity is 78m3/s.
The underground powerhouse is equipped with eight reversible, four-stage Francis pump-turbine units. The rated capacity of each unit is 152.5MW in turbine mode and 157MW in pump mode. The head height for the underground powerhouse is 955m, while the total discharge capacities in turbine and pump modes are 144m3/s and 138m3/s, respectively.
The Grand Maison facility operates as a peaking power plant by pumping water from the lower reservoir to the upper reservoir for storage during periods of low electricity demand and by releasing the stored water from the upper reservoir for power generation when the electricity demand is high.
Coyne & Bellier (now Tractebel Engie) provided the design for the Grand Maison Dam, while the other contractors involved in the dam project included Bec Frères, Bouygues Construction, Chantiers Modernes and Groupe Razel.
It was also contracted to supply static excitation systems to enable back-to-back starts between all Pelton and Francis units of the facility, as part of a recent a rehabilitation programme at the Grand Maison site.
The Grand Maison hydroelectric facility has been selected to demonstrate the hydraulic short circuit technology for advanced control and efficiency as part of the ongoing Hydropower Extending Power System Flexibility (XFLEX HYDRO) project.
New turbine runners and advanced automation techniques will be used at the Grand Maison surface powerhouse units to test the instantaneous use of pumps and Pelton turbines for enhanced grid flexibility services by the plant.
The participants for the demonstration project at Grand Maison include EDF, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL, GE, the HES-SO University, Switzerland, and Power Vision Engineering.
The report calls on EU member states to fully explore their energy storage potential looking at a range of solutions including pumped hydro. It also requests the European Commission develops a comprehensive strategy on storage in line with renewables targets. In addition the report:
"The resounding vote by the European Parliament recognises the obvious: we need more energy storage. That will not happen by magic," says Eddie Rich, Chief Executive of the International Hydropower Association. "European politicians have a huge opportunity as part of green economic stimulus packages to facilitate pumped storage hydro development through enabling policies and incentivising markets,” he added.
Interesting developments have been taking place at the Drax Group''s Cruachan pumped storage project in Scotland. In July 2020, the scheme begun supplying critical system support services to keep the UK''s power system secure. This was a ''world-first'' power system stability contract with National Grid Electricity System operator (ESO).
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