Austria's most powerful power plant group in operation

The modernized and expanded Malta-Reißeck power plant group in Upper Carinthia officially began operations on Monday morning. The group had invested €200 million in recent years. This was used to modernize the Malta main and upper stages of the power plant, and to build the Reißeck II+ pumped storage facility and the Kolbnitz pumping station, the state of Carinthia announced in a press release.

The Malta-Reißeck power plant group now has eleven power plants and one pumping station. With a turbine capacity of 1,545 megawatts and a pumping capacity of 1,095 megawatts, it is the most powerful power plant group in Austria. It can generate as much electricity as the six largest Danube power plants combined.

Over the past five years, several projects have been implemented in parallel: First, the existing Malta main and upper stage power plants were modernized, increasing turbine capacity by approximately 40 megawatts, pumping capacity by approximately 155 megawatts, and generation by approximately 20 GWh. In addition, two new flexibility boosters were constructed: the Reißeck II+ pumped storage facility with a capacity of 45 MW and the Kolbnitz pumping station with a pumping capacity of 60 MW.

Power plants as “green batteries”

The major project will play an important role in the transformation of the energy system, said Verbund CEO Michael Strugl – the power plants will be able to balance the weather-dependent fluctuations in electricity generation from wind and solar power. "The pumped storage plants are green batteries, and we operate the largest of these batteries here with the Malta-Reißeck power plant group," said Strugl, who also addressed the urgent need for an energy mix of hydro, wind, and solar power.

APA