Dubai Electricity Company DEWA has completed 44% of the first pumped storage plant (PSPP) construction in the Persian Gulf. The station will run on solar energy and store it in vast accumulations of water raised to the 70th height. The stored energy will be enough for four days of electricity generation for the consumption of all of the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Hydrostorage stations store excess energy – usually renewable energy sources and, in particular, solar power – in the process of pumping water from the lower reservoir to the upper one. At peak electricity consumption, water is discharged into the lower reservoir and drives hydro turbines that generate electricity and give it to consumers.
The pumped storage power plant under construction in the border city of Oman, Hatta, will have two dams – one at the height of 37 m, and the other at the height of 70 m. When there is no consumption, the pumps will pump water from the lower reservoir to the upper one.
A 1 GW solar farm, which is being built near the pumped storage power plant, will feed the pumps and supply energy to the distribution networks. The estimated life of the PSP is 80 years. The volume of water in the upper tank is equivalent to 1.5 GWh.
The response time to an increase in load is only 90 seconds. The length of the tunnel, through which water will flow and turn the turbine, reaches 1.2 km. The highest efficiency of the station is declared – at the level of 78.9%. Perhaps this is a world record for objects of this kind.
Currently, electricity in the UAE is generated mainly by burning natural gas (95%). The country is trying to reduce the consumption of fossil fuels and diversify the use of renewable sources. Among renewable sources, solar generation has an overwhelming advantage.
In 2021, solar farms accounted for 2,705 of the 2,706 MW of renewable energy capacity in the UAE.