Estonia awards building permit to 550-MW pumped storage project

January 26 (Renewables Now) - Estonia’s Energiasalv has secured approval for the construction of a 550-MW underground pumped-hydro storage plant, to be the first large-scale facility of its kind in the Baltic country.

Energiasalv, owned by a company controlled by its CEO, Estonian energy group AS Alexela and Baltic-Polish renewable energy firm Sunly AS, on Tuesday said it intends to launch building works in the summer of next year.

The Zero Terrain project envisages the construction of an underground facility in Paldiski, northwestern Estonia, which will be capable of storing 6 GWh of power during a single cycle of 12 hours. The “water battery” will deliver electricity to the grid when wind and solar power generation is low. According to Energiasalv, the stored electricity will exceed the average daily electricity consumption of all Estonian households.

The next step in the project is to hold a pre-qualification process for the construction procurement, scheduled for the start of February. The developer intends to complete the tender by the end of this year.

Zero Terrain has been declared an EU Project of Common Interest (PCI project).