Final works at the Abdelmoumen PSP

Photo credit: Jacques Fernandes

25 May 2022 - Projects update and handover - Morocco

The Abdelmoumen pumped storage power plant (PSP), in the south-west of the country, makes it possible to store electrical energy in the form of water.

Stored in a high-altitude reservoir, the water is released via a 3 km-long penstock (1 km of it underground) down a natural 550 m drop to a reservoir located downhill. The hydroelectric plant (350 MW) installed between the two reservoirs is composed of four buildings. It is reversible: depending on the direction its turbines turn, it either generates electricity or pumps water up from the lower reservoir towards the upper reservoir where it is stored, waiting to produce renewable energy on demand. The consortium led by VINCI Construction Grands Projets, in association with VINCI Construction Terrassement Grands Projets, entrusted Sogea Maroc (VINCI Construction) with the civil engineering works for the plant, now 95% completed, but also for the 225 kV substation and the pumping station, which are already available to the electromechanical engineers. Since October 2019, the project has created 250 local jobs.

How to store electric energy? – PSPs