Vattenfall has now started the construction of an open-space photovoltaic system at the Geesthacht pumped storage plant in Schleswig-Holstein.
In the coming weeks, the company will install around 5,000 solar modules with a capacity of 2.4MW on the dam of the upper basin at Germany’s northernmost pumped storage facility.
The necessary preparatory work is already underway, according to Vattenfall.
The photovoltaic system in Geesthacht is one of various projects in which Vattenfall is adding solar power to pump storage plants.
At the 1050MW Markersbach pumped storage facility in the Ore Mountains, one of the largest pumped storage facilities in Germany, Vattenfall began building a photovoltaic system in the summer of 2020.
The system consists of around 11,000 solar modules, has an installed capacity of 4.3MW and is currently in the commissioning phase.
In addition, Vattenfall has already equipped the roof areas of the PSP Markersbach with PV modules, so that a total of seven megawatts of new photovoltaic output is in operation or under construction at the hydropower plants.
Vattenfall head of solar and batteries unit Claus Wattendrup said: “Vattenfall wants to enable a fossil-free life within one generation.
“The further expansion of renewable energies plays a decisive role here, and we want to continue growing here.
“A useful component of this strategy is to add photovoltaics to existing energy generation systems.
“In addition, the use of existing technical infrastructure leads to synergies that also benefit the profitability of solar power.”
Vattenfall Wasserkraft managing director Peter Apel added: “Vattenfall has been operating hydropower plants in northern and eastern Germany for decades.
“Our pumped storage facilities serve as storage for the growing renewable energies and guarantee grid stability.
“It is therefore logical to continue to expand renewable energies in those regions in which we have long been an integral part of the local energy infrastructure.”
Vattenfall is currently supplementing existing locations with photovoltaics, particularly in Germany and the Netherlands.
It has around 100MW of solar energy in operation and under construction.
In addition to the solar projects on the pumped storage facilities, the company is currently building the 28MW open space solar park Kogel-Leizen in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania along the A19 motorway not far from the Wittstock-Dosse motorway triangle.
Further projects for several hundred megawatts of solar energy are also in the planning stage.