E.ON has said that it will expand the Waldeck pumped-storage hydroelectric station capacity with the construction of a new 300MW pumped-storage plant next to the existing Waldeck 2 facility on Lake Eder in the federal state of Hesse in Germany.
The German energy firm will begin the construction in 2012 that will have an underground turbine room.
Planned investments for the power project total about EUR250m, and the construction is expected to take four years with the new capacity entering service in 2016.
E.ON said that the project is expected to be approved by the Hesse state government in Kassel in late 2011.
The new plant, including the penstock pipes and generating equipment, will be built completely under ground, making it particularly environmentally friendly.
The volume of Waldeck 2’s upper reservoir will be increased by about 10% by raising its retaining walls.
E.ON Energy CEO Ingo Luge said that highly efficient pumped-storage hydro stations play a key role in making Germany’s energy supply reliable and flexible.
"Pumped-storage stations are superbly suited to balancing out the intermittent output of renewables because they can store energy very efficiently and come onstream at a moment’s notice to supply zero-carbon, environmentally friendly electricity," Luge said.