Recently Euronews reported that the 900MW battery which costed Switzerland around $20 million is now ready for operational use. It took this Water Battery plant 14 years to be installed 2000 feet down the Swiss Alps.
In todays world, countries are thrilled by the idea of storing and taking energy from renewable resources. An energy platform like this should also be on the minds. Such sort of energy acts upon different climatic situations as well. A likewise measure taken is dense batteries. The only drawback of such batteries are the non-environmental activities.
What Is Water Battery
A water battery plant is made up of two big pools of water. One has to be taller than the other. They then contemplate the features of an hourglass to provide energy. When a minimal amount of energy is needed, water drives from the smaller pool to the bigger pool. When a high level of energy is required, it sways from the taller pool to the shorter pool. Now their route is generated by electrical turbines. They create energy and send it off to the main grid.
A lot of countries have already adapted to this method such as the US. Switzerland is late to the party.
Switzerland’s water battery plant however has a storage capacity of 20 million kWh. The aim of building such a strong power source is to eradicate any sorts of inconveniences faced by the people of the country. However, the energy being generated from this plant won’t be just sending power to Switzerland. Other European cities will also be benefitted.
14 Years?
The water battery plant is located between the Vieux Emosson and reservoirs of Emosson. The engine room of the water battery is said to be 650 ft long and 100 ft wide.
Engineers found it brilliantly difficult to take materials to the building site. Though, tunnels were built to ease their hardships. The process of building tunnels and taking materials step by step took the Swiss 14 years. An 18 km long tunnel had to be made through a mountain.
After the long effort of 14 years, the water plant is finally ready for operational use. Its considered to be so powerful that it can light up a whole city at a given time.