One of biggest batteries in Europe uses lots of water to stop blackouts

4 xps 3 5/25/2025, 7:52:46 AM theguardian.com ↗

Comments (3)

ggm · 7h ago
Pumped hydro. Britain has four. Cruachan in Scotland near Oban you can visit, not sure about the others. When we all watched the same two TV channels, pre-emptive spin up was a thing to handle "put the kettle on love, Dallas has finished" power surges.
asdefghyk · 6h ago
The hydro in the article - its IMMEDIATE activation still allowed a million people to experience a 45 minute blackout. Trains stopped etc . Pumped hydro will take anywhere from approximate 60 seconds to several minutes to generating power. It also obviously needs to always kept in reserve for such generator dropouts
ggm · 5h ago
It was commissioned in 1984. It's not always kept in reserve. It has a component for black start, it also has a component for surge demand management.