Is A Closed Pumping System A Hydroelectric Power Plant?

The Koralm pumped storage hydroelectric power plant will be constructed in Styria, Austria. With a bottleneck output of about 1 gigawatt, it will be one of the most powerful hydropower plants in Austria.

Assessment permit

The Styrian state government issued an assessment permit stating that the Koralm project did not require an environmental impact assessment. In the assessment permit, the authority assessed the project as a closed pumping system with a lower and upper reservoir. Each reservoir will be constructed with a dam and filled once by water from a small river. That water will then be pumped from the lower reservoir to the upper reservoir. The flow (from the upper reservoir to the lower reservoir) will be used for electricity generation. These plants do not produce energy, only store it. As such, they operate with high energy losses. In the assessment permit, the authority declared that the Koralm plant was not a 'hydroelectric power plant' under the