Bath County Pumped Storage Station

The Bath County Pumped Storage Station is a pumped storage hydroelectric power plant with a maximum generation capacity of 3,003 MW, an average of 2,772 MW, and a total storage capacity of 24,000 MWh. The station is located in the northern corner of Bath County, Virginia, on the southeast side of the Eastern Continental Divide, which forms this section of the border between Virginia and West Virginia. The station consists of two reservoirs separated by about in elevation. It was the largest pumped-storage power station in the world until 2021, when it was surpassed by the Fengning Pumped Storage Power Station.

Construction on the power station, with an original capacity of , began in March 1977 and was completed in December 1985 at a cost of $1.6 billion,"Bath County Pumped Storage" , Civil Engineering—ASCE, Vol. 55, No. 7, July 1985, pg. 55Updating SCADA Systems ModComp. Retrieved: 29 August 2010. Voith-Siemens upgraded the six turbines between 2004 and 2009, increasing power generation to 500.5 MW and pumping power to for each turbine.Refurbishment Power Gen, 21 January 2004. Retrieved: 29 August 2010. Bath County Station is jointly owned by Dominion Generation (60%) and FirstEnergy (40%), and managed by Dominion. It stores energy for PJM Interconnection, a regional transmission organization in 13 states and the District of Columbia.

Design The upper and lower reservoirs are created by earth and rock-filled embankment dams. The upper reservoir dam is high, long and has a structural volume of . The upper reservoir on Little Back Creek has a surface area of and storage capacity of . The lower reservoir dam on Back Creek is high and in length. It has a structural volume of and creates a reservoir with a surface area of and storage capacity of . Connecting the upper reservoir to the power station are three water conduits between long. The conduits each lead to a shaft which bifurcates into two penstocks (for a total of six) before reaching the turbines. Each penstock is in diameter and between in length. Maximum static pressure from the top of the water delivery system to the turbines is .

Method of operation Water is released from the upper reservoir during periods of high demand and is used to generate electricity. What makes this different from other hydroelectric dams is that during times of low demand, power is taken from coal, nuclear, and other power plants and is used to pump water from the lower to the upper reservoir. Although this plant uses more power than it generates, it allows these other plants to operate at close to peak efficiency for an overall cost savings. Back Creek and Little Back Creek, the water sources used to create the reservoirs, have a relatively small flow rate. However, since water is pumped between the reservoirs equally, the only water taken from these creeks now that the reservoirs are full is to replace the water lost to evaporation. During operation, the water level fluctuates by over in the upper reservoir and feet in the lower reservoir.

When generating power, the water flow can be as much as per minute (850 m3/s). When storing power, the flow can be as much as per minute (800 m3/s).

Environment A fishing habitat was created downstream of the facility.Singletary, William C., Jr.Stream Habitat Improvements Water Resources Research Forum page 9, 1988. Retrieved: 29 August 2010. In times of drought water quality can be maintainedWatershed quality United States Environmental Protection Agency, 2008. Retrieved: 29 August 2010. by using nearby recreational reservoirs to supply extra water to the creeks.FR Doc 02-9027 Federal Register, 9 April 2002. Retrieved: 29 August 2010. The creeks and recreational reservoirs have water quality sufficient for fish.Colbert, Judy. Virginia Off the Beaten Path, 10th 2008, page 174. , Mark Fike. Bugas. Bream Fishing Virginia Game & Fish. Retrieved: 29 August 2010.

Bath County Pumped Storage Station

Bron en licentie