Located in dry Southern Spain, this hydropower scheme was built in the 1960s and features a 650 kW Francis turbine. Even if the design capacity was adequate to the amount of water flow available at the time, the effects of climate change have caused a drastic reduction in water availability. As a result of this, the turbine has only been operated sporadically over the last decade since on most days there wasn’t a sufficient water flow to start the unit.
After diagnosing the situation and assessing the historical flow records, the Easy Hydro team recommended adding a low-cost Pump As Turbine (PAT) in parallel to the existing 650 kW unit. The new equipment was recently installed and will soon be commissioned, thus providing a stable 90-100 kW power generation and utilizing the water that otherwise bypasses the main turbine.
