Goldisthal
Facts
Country
Germany
Electricity Capacity
1,060 MWe
Stream
Schwarza
Head
302 m
Water discharge
4 x 103.3 m³/s
Turbine type
Francis
Vattenfall ownership share
100 %
Status
In Operation
The Goldisthal pumped storage power plant has been in operation since 2004. The underground power station is situated on the Schwarza river in the western Thuringian Slate Mountains.
The upper reservoir holds around 13 million cubic metres of working water, enough for the turbines to run at full load for around nine hours. It takes the power station approximately 100 seconds to go from inactivity to full power. Its rapid availability makes it an important component of the energy revolution as it can respond to the heavy fluctuations in the feed of renewable energy. Pumped storage plants guarantee network stability.