The Bath County Pumped Storage Station is a pumped storage hydroelectric power plant with a maximum generation capacity of 3,003 MW, an average of 2,772 MW, and a total storage capacity of 24,000 MWh. Voith-Siemens upgraded the six turbines between 2004 and 2009, increasing power generation to 500.5 MW and pumping power to for each turbine. Bath County Station is jointly owned by Dominion Generation (60%) and FirstEnergy (40%), and managed by Dominion. It stores energy for PJM Interconnection, a regional transmission organization in 13 states and the District of Columbia.

Method of operation

Water is released from the upper reservoir during periods of high demand and is used to generate electricity. What makes this different from other hydroelectric dams is that during times of low demand, power is taken from coal, nuclear, and other power plants and is used to pump water from the lower to the upper reservoir. Although this plant uses more power than it generates, it allows these other plants to operate at close to peak efficiency for an overall cost savings. Back Creek and Little Back Creek, the water sources used to create the reservoirs, have a relatively small flow rate. However, since water is pumped between the reservoirs equally, the only water taken from these creeks now that the reservoirs are full is to replace the water lost to evaporation. During operation, the water level fluctuates by over in the upper reservoir and feet in the lower reservoir.

When generating power, the water flow can be as much as per minute (850&nbsp;m<sup>3</sup>/s). When storing power, the flow can be as much as per minute (800&nbsp;m<sup>3</sup>/s).

<gallery mode="packed" caption="Reservoirs">

File:Bath County Pumped Storage Station - upper reservoir.jpg|Upper reservoir directly behind the top of the mountain

File:Bath County Pumped Storage Station - an Inlet stream of the lower reservoir.jpg|An inlet stream of the lower reservoir

File:Bath County Pumped Storage Station - lower reservoir dam and spillway.jpg|Lower reservoir dam and spillway

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Environment

A fishing habitat was created downstream of the facility.

In times of drought water quality can be maintained by using nearby recreational reservoirs to supply extra water to the creeks. The creeks and recreational reservoirs have water quality sufficient for fish.

See also

  • List of energy storage projects
  • Pumped-storage hydroelectricity
  • List of largest hydroelectric power stations in the United States

References

  • Dominion Resources
  • FirstEnergy
  • Bath County Pumped Storage Station Home Page