Star Pumped Storage
Hutchison Water, together with its local Israeli partner the Noy Fund, is engaged in a project to design, build, operate and own (DBOO) a hydroelectric pumped storage PPP plant in the north of Israel.
The Star Pumped Storage project, which will be the largest of its kind in Israel, is designed to produce 344 MW with commissioning scheduled for 2021.
Pumped storage technology allows hydroelectric energy storage used by electric power systems for load balancing. The method stores energy in the form of gravitational potential energy of water, pumped from a low located reservoir to a high located reservoir. During periods of high electrical demand, the stored water is released through turbines to produce electricity.
Upon commissioning, revenue will be generated under a 20 years fixed dispatch arrangement with the Israel Electricity Company.
For More Information
Project Data:
Key Facts:
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- Contract Type : License from the Israeli Electricity Authority to design, build, Operate and own (DBOO) a PPP project
- Capacity: 344 MW
- Location: Israel
- Total investment: Approximately US$ 600 million
- Construction period: 4 years
- Financing: Financed by a consortium of Israeli banks
Project features:
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- Underground waterways comprising of headrace tunnel, vertical pressure shaft, pressure tunnel, tailrace tunnel and two surge tanks. The waterways consist of 5,500 meters of underground tunnels
- Upper and lower open reservoirs, each with a capacity to store 3 million cubic meter of water
- Underground power house housing the electromechanical equipment including two pump/turbine units, step-up transformer and other axillary systems
- 161 kV switching station located above ground
Highlights
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- Continues supply capacity at full power for more than 9 hours per cycle
- High capacity power supply of 100 MW to 1,000 MW
- High efficiency – round trip electric efficiency of almost 80%
