Human engineering thought is capable of performing real miracles, implementing projects that previously seemed impossible. A striking example of this is the American pumped storage power plant Taum Sauk, which is located in the state of Missouri. One of the most important features of this PSP is that it does not stand on a canal or on a natural river. The nearest reservoir from Taum Sauk is 80 km away.
As noted at the very beginning, Taum Sauk Hydroelectric Power Station belongs to a very specific class of water power plants - pumped storage. A pumped storage power plant is an installation that is used to equalize the daily irregularity of the electrical load schedule. The operation of any pumped storage power plant is based on a complex of electric generators and pumps. Less commonly used are reversible power generators, which combine the functions of both devices mentioned above. We can say that a pumped storage power plant is not a power plant, but a self-charging battery. Specifically, the Taum Sauk is the largest such facility in all of North America.
The first primitive pumped storage power plant appeared in the 19th century in Switzerland. Today there are about 200 such installations in the world, most of which are located in Japan. The rest are located in Italy, Germany, France, Switzerland, USA and some other countries. The principle of operation of the PSPP is based on the use of a night dip in electricity consumption. At night, the PSP uses "free" cheap electricity to pump water from the lower reservoir to the upper reservoir. And during the morning and evening peaks of electricity consumption, the station begins to discharge water, thereby generating electricity. During the day, pumped storage power plants are usually inactive. Pumped storage power plants are used because neither thermal nor nuclear power plants can quickly change the cycle of their own work without serious losses of energy and fuel.
The Thaum Sauk power plant in the USA was built in 1963. It uses a pair of reversible electric generators, each with a capacity of 225 MW. An important feature of this PSP is that the upper niche is not a natural reservoir, but a high-rise reservoir created from scratch. Like all other complexes of this kind, the American Thaum Sauk is used to smooth out peak loads in daily electricity consumption. At night, the station pumps water back into the tank - in the morning and in the evening it discharges.
In 2005, an incident occurred following which the possibility of closing the complex was considered. During the work at the station, the water sensors broke down, as a result of which the PSP pumped more than needed during the night. The result was predictable: first, the water began to overflow, and then completely broke through one of the walls of the reservoir, thereby organizing a real flood. It took only 12 minutes for all the water to drain into the valley. Nevertheless, in the end, the Missouri state authorities decided to restore the complex and in 2010 the Taum Sauk started working again.
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A source: https://novate.ru/blogs/110621/59347/
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