Feasibility Study on the Usage of Existing Storage as an Upgrade for Underground Pump-storage-plants

The for the climate and environmental prtection necessary switch of energy production to renewable energy is dependant on energy storage and the physical connectivity of the energy infrastructure. Storage of energy is the key technology between temporarily decoupled fluctuating energy production and energy consumption. It is without a doubt that efficient and durable Pump-storage-plants following the principle of storing hydraulic potential energy of water are up to the task. But suitable storage locations and their conventional constructions are limited by nature. It is also becoming more and more difficult to construct storages in ecological sensible high valeys. In this thesis a feasabliity of existing Austrian storages for their usage as upgrade of underground pump-storage-plants should be examined. Already existing storages serve as upstream storage. Downstream lower storages should be constructed. A special interest is the investigation of the geological conditions and various penstocks depending on the storage capacity.