GE Power Conversion has won a contract to equip the new pump storage power plant (PSPP) ReiBeck II+ of VERBUND – Austria’s largest electricity producer – between the two reservoirs GroBer Muhldorfer See and Kleiner Muhldorfer See in Karnten, Austria, located 2,300 meters above sea level.
ReiBeck II+ will be an underground cavern power plant and an extension to the ReiBeck II pump storage power plant. The Malta-Reißeck water group in Karnten has a total power of 1,460MW and is one of the most powerful hydropower plant groups in Austria.
VERBUND is planning to build up a variable-speed machine set with a motor in full converter technology and two single-stage, double-flow pump turbines with a total power of 45MW for the new ReiBeck II+.
For this project, GE will deliver three MV7616 converters which are water cooled fully fed converters with an electrical voltage of 6.6kV each.
In addition, GE Power Conversion will supply VERBUND with a control unit, an excitation unit integrated in the converter control, and an excitation transformer. This project is being implemented with GE Renewable Energy who will manufacture the motor/generator. The pumped storage power plant will be put into operation by the end of 2023.
“The unique technology we are providing for this location will be used to generate clean, renewable energy for thousands of homes,” said Jorg Nuttelmann, Managing Director of GE Power Conversion, Germany.
This is GE Power Conversion’s second project with VERBUND in recent years. In 2018, Power Conversion and VERBUND started the project Kaprun Oberstufe with the modernization of two machine groups each of them 85MW fully fed. Currently, the first machine group is under wet commissioning and the installation for the second machine group will start in the middle of 2021.