The Water Law sets the priorities for the use of water resources, Always putting drinking water first, then that needed for irrigation, followed by that used for industrial uses and, finally, whenever possible, that for recreational uses.. For compliance with these plans and to guarantee the use of water, reservoirs are essential. Its dams allow an orderly use of an irregular resource such as water, and this also includes those facilities that were not specifically built for consumption, but for hydroelectric production. In fact, The energy companies operate subject to strict regional and state regulations that stipulate that there must always be a significant reserve of water that is not turbined, with the aim of being able to dispose of it in case it is decided that it is necessary, and to guarantee an adequate volume of flow that protects the life of fish and vegetation. In this way, while clean and renewable energy is generated, it helps to reduce the impact of droughts and floods.
Hydraulic energy is obtained mainly from the transformation of water movement into electricity, through the use of the kinetic force that is generated by the fall of water from a certain height. For this reason, large dams are built, capable of extracting the maximum potential of this resource. These installations control the volume and speed of the water which, as it descends, turns the propellers of the turbines that activate the generator responsible for producing electricity.
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There are possibilities for improvement in this area and one of those that the Government and private companies have put on the table is the hydroelectric pumping, which enables large-scale hydropower production. During the hours of greatest consumption, the plant works like a conventional hydroelectric plant: the water accumulated in the reservoir is released when the dam opens, generating a kinetic force that turns the hydraulic turbine, in charge of producing electricity. But the difference occurs when, once this process is finished, the water is not discarded through the drainage channel, as would happen in other types of these facilities, but rather it is sent to a second reservoir, located in a lower level, where it is again stored. This makes it possible to take advantage of moments of low demand to pump the water contained in the lower reservoir, raising it again to the upper reservoir. This way, it is not wasted. In Spain, the number of these types of facilities is still small, however, the country is home to the largest pumped hydroelectric plant in Europe: Iberdrola’s La Muela II, located in the Cortes de Pallàs reservoir, on the Júcar river, Valencia. Its capacity exceeds 880G Wh, a performance sufficient to meet the electricity consumption of almost 200,000 homes.
Aware of the benefits that pumping brings to the system, the PNIEC (Integrated National Energy and Climate Plan) plans to install 3,500 new pumping MW by 2030. And the sector is also expanding outside of Spain with the large Tâmega hydroelectric project, which proposes the construction of three new power plants in the north of Portugal, in the regions of Gouvães, Daivões and Alto Tâmega. These plants will add a capacity of 1,158 MWh, will curb the emission of 1.2 million tons of CO2 annually and will prevent the importation of more than 160,000 tons of oil.