This water battery is the size of a lake and can recharge 400,000 electric cars

The Nant de Drance hydroelectric plant, in Switzerland, has released a huge water battery the size of a lake. It is capable of storing electricity indefinitely for recharge 400,000 electric carsand put an end to the problems of electricity cuts throughout Europe.

Located at an altitude of 2,225 metres, this hydraulic power plant of 900 Megawatts (MW) is the second largest in Europe. It produces electricity in the traditional way: the water from the rivers that come down from the Alps drives huge turbines that generate electricity.

But its engineers have been working on a water batterya pumping megaturbine capable of store energy equivalent to recharging 400,000 electric cars when renewable solar and wind energy cannot supply the demand.

We use more and more clean energiesbut have a problem: they do not produce energy constantly. Solar panels only produce during the day, and wind turbines, when there is wind. And the electricity generated cannot be stored for long in huge quantities, because it is very expensive.

The water battery he is able to store electricity infinitelywithout energy cost, to be used when needed.

This is how a water battery works

What the engineers of the Nant de Drance hydroelectric plant in Switzerland have done is to build a dam on the Old Emosson lake to separate it from theAug Emossonwhich is located 300 meters below.

When there is excess electricity or little demand, it is that electricity that is going to be wasted for raise the water from the lower lake to the upper oneand it remains stored there as long as it is needed.

When there is an electricity deficit, for example at night or at peak hours, the water battery pours water from the upper lake into 6 huge turbinesgenerating enough electricity to recharge 400,000 electric carsor supply tens of thousands of houses for days.

The cycle repeats itself indefinitely, pumping water from the lower lake to the upper one when there is plenty of electricity, or at times of low demand.

“It is an ecological battery that always uses the same water. The efficiency is over 80%: for every kilowatt of electricity that we use to pump the water to the upper reservoir, we inject 0.8 kilowatt hours into the network”explains Alain Sauthier, the chief engineer, on the web swissinfo.

This megabattery It is so big that a whole country like Switzerland is too small to use it. So they are already in talks with France and Germany to supply electricity when they need it.

Matthew Stocks of the Australian National University says there are 616,000 places around the world where they could be built. water pumping plants in a closed circuit with two reservoirs. Even 1% would be enough to solve the problem of intermittent energy storage.

Little by little, very slowly, the most technologically advanced countries generate massive solutions to make the most of the renewable energy. This water battery able to generate electricity for recharge 400,000 electric carsand store it forever, is one of the most spectacular solutions we have seen.