HPPS with Water Reservoirs – Reserve Capacity for Solar & Wind
There are many renewable sources of power generation in the world. From them, hydro power plants and sun and wind power plants are the most popular.
The current situation in the world
Solar and wind power systems are among the most dynamically growing sectors of recent times, making the adoption of solar and wind resources to generate electricity one of the most important challenges for the modern world.
China, the USA, Germany, Italy, India, France, Great Britain, Spain and others are all major producers of sun and wind electricity.
Electricity generation in these types of power plants depends on environmental factors (sun, wind). Therefore, electricity generation can be irregular. Additionally, generating electricity with such types of power plants is significantly less reliable than hydroelectric power plants, as, while water always flows; sometimes the wind blows, sometimes not. This variability negatively impacts on a systematic / reliable operation. It also results in a need for additional reserve capabilities to deal with this variable and for the systems to function without accidents.
HPPs as a reserve power
As noted, for the integration of solar and wind power plants into a network as unstable energy sources, reserve capacity is necessary, and hydro power plants are the most viable option in this regard. The advantages of regulatory HPPs with water reservoirs, unlike all other sources of energy, has highly maneuverable ability: such HPPs can change power without limit (from 0 up to 100%) in the shortest possible time, which is practically impossible with other types of power plants.
The experience of solar and wind energy producers shows that they are able to integrate these changing energies into a network with HPPs with water reservoirs. A clear example of this is Germany, which is one of the leaders in the solar and wind energy sectors. Germany's proximity to countries with large hydropower systems, such as Norway and Sweden in the north and Switzerland and Austria in the south, enables their energy system to be balanced and flexible, thus promoting the use of solar and wind energy.
Georgia
The main source of power generation in Georgia is hydro power plants, although the country plans to use other renewable sources in addition. Similar to world experiences, the issue of unstable energy sources (sun, wind) is also relevant in Georgia. Consequently, the construction of current and planned HPPs with water reservoirs will support the construction of solar and wind power projects.
The construction of the regulatory Nenskra HPP is underway in the Svaneti region with a capacity of 280 mega-watt. It is being constructed by K-Water, Korea Water Resources Corporation, which has 50 years’ experience in the hydropower sector. K-Water HPPs with a water reservoir provide stability to the work of Solar and Wind Power Plants in South Korea. It is notable that the company owns several Solar and Wind power plants. K-water is the first company to use "floating” solar power plants – with solar panels floating on surface of one of the water reservoirs. Construction of the Nenskra HPP in Georgia will give the country energy system flexibility. With its help, connection of planned unstable energy sources- solar and wind power stations -to the networks will be simplified in Georgia.