The 900 MW Nant de Drance pumped storage hydro power plant in the Valais canton, western Switzerland, will be put into operation on 1 July 2022 after 14 years of construction and testing. The plant is owned through the special purpose vehicle Nant de Drance SA by Alpiq (39%), Swiss Federal Railways (36%), Industrielle Werker Basel (15%) and Forces Motrices Valaisannes (10%).
Located 600 m below the ground between the Emosson and Vieux Emosson reservoirs in the Finhaut municipality, the hydropower plant features 6 pump-turbine units, each with a capacity of 150 MW. The upper reservoir of Vieux Emosson holds 25 mcm of water, which represents a storage capacity of 20 GWh.
In 2021, hydro represented 70% of Switzerland’s total installed capacity with 17.5 GW and 61% of its power generation with 40 TWh.
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