Revamping an old hydro in the era of climate change

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.

View of the Easy Hydro turbine (left) being lowered by crane into the turbine hall
The installed turbine and relative valves

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.