* Author: José Navarro Torrijos*
I am aware that many visitors to the Cortes-La Muela hydroelectric power station are very impressed when they come up close to this feat of civil and electromechanical engineering.
When we tell visitors how the installation works, especially as regards how it stores energy by pumping water from the lower reservoir through the piping at off-peak times to a higher reservoir located at a height of 500 metres, with a view to running it through the turbine and generating energy when consumption is at its peak, we always see expressions of awe at the sheer dimensions of this facility.
After seven years of work, we have managed to double the capacity at the Cortes-La Muela facility: a new installation that generates clean energy, avoiding the emission of some 2,200,000 tonnes of CO2 and meeting peak electricity demands in record time, which is something that other technologies are unable to achieve.
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My participation in this ambitious project that was not without its difficulties in design and construction – with very high speed (600 rpm) turbines, penstock at 45º angle to improve performance, etc. was like completing a Master’s in hands-on knowledge of hydraulic technologies, which are part of an area as distant from my previous professional experience as civil works in ‘mining operations’. In fact, it was the greatest challenge I have faced since I started my professional career.
Quality, state-of-the-art technology, clean energy, innovation…all of these features are part of the largest pumped-storage facility in Europe.
This new hydraulic plant owned by Iberdrola, which is located on the right bank of the river Júcar, in the municipality of Cortes de Pallás (Valencia), required some 281 suppliers (mostly from the Valencia region) and the collaboration of over 3,000 workers over a seven-year period. We are grateful to all of them for their effort and dedication in completing this work.
To all of those that were involved, it was also a source of great satisfaction to see the Prince of Asturias inaugurate the La Muela complex, accompanied by our Chairman, Ignacio Galán. To be able to welcome Prince Felipe to our facilities, after the visit by the King and Queen in 1986, is proof of the Royal Family’s commitment to the company and their unconditional support for development and innovation at our facilities.
