Developers commission 900 MW pumped storage power plant at the Vieux Emosson dam

Alpiq Group, the Swiss Federal Railways (SFR), Industrielle Werke Basel (IWB) and Forces Motrices Valaisannes (FMV), after fourteen years, have commissioned the 900 MW Nant de Drance pumped storage power station in southwest Switzerland.

The plant is intended to act as a massive battery to stabilize the Swiss and European electrical networks and is situated at the Vieux Emosson dam at 2,200 meters above sea level in the canton of Valais.

Constructed about 600 meters down in a cavern between the Emosson and Vieux Emosson reservoirs in the Finhaut municipality, the project has six pump turbines with a capacity of 150 MW each.