On the occasion of a visit at the Voith headquarters in Heidenheim, the Member of the German Bundestag Roderich Kiesewetter (CDU) underlined the importance of the region's hydropower know-how for the energy transition in Europe. Especially pumped storage plants would massively increase the supply security in Baden-Württemberg and other regions in the time after 2020. This is an important signal for the industry and the business location East-Württemberg.

The Management of Voith Hydro Heidenheim welcomed Roderich Kiesewetter today at the research and development center "Brunnenmühle“, in order to give him a deeper insight into pumped storage technology and discuss the opportunities and risks of the energy transition in Germany and Europe with him. 

The basis of the talk was a study of Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule (RWTH) Aachen commissioned by Voith. The study concludes that, within the scope of the energy transition, pumped storage plants not only store and re-feed surplus electricity from renewable energies. Due to their extremely flexible operation, these power stations also make a significant contribution to the supply quality and provide guaranteed outputs.

"Today I am also going to talk to the Works Council of Voith Paper. I hope to make a contribution to finding satisfactory solutions for the workforce. Yet there are also positive developments at Voith: sophisticated technologies such as pumped storage plants must have a firm place in our energy system. We need these huge storage units to ensure that our industries will always be reliably supplied with electricity", says Roderich Kiesewetter. Voith is a company that is deeply rooted in the Eastern Swabian Jura and has to make an innovative contribution towards a functioning energy system of the future. This would not only strengthen the regional industry - these regional competencies would also benefit the whole of Europe. 

Apart from their storage function, pumped storage power plants also provide other important services for the power grid; they are, for example, able to compensate high fluctuations of wind and solar energy.  "As multi-function power plants, pumped storage power stations speed up the energy transition much more effectively", says Heike Bergmann, Member of the Management Board of Voith Hydro Heidenheim. "The role of pumped storage plants must therefore be taken into consideration in a new energy market design". This means that the operators of pumped storage power plants are to be remunerated for the many services provided by these large storage systems for a stable power network.  

The Importance of Hydropower
Hydropower is the largest, oldest and also most reliable form of renewable energy generation. Worldwide it makes an indispensable contribution to stable power supplies and hence to economic and social development - in industrial countries and also in rapidly growing regions. At the same time, hydropower significantly contributes to climate-protecting energy generation. Voith has been a leading supplier of this technology since the early beginning of hydropower utilization, and continuously develops and improves this technology.

About the Company
Voith sets standards in the markets energy, oil & gas, paper, raw materials and transport & automotive. Founded in 1867, Voith employs more than 39,000 people, generates €5.3 billion in sales, operates in over 50 countries around the world and is today one of the biggest family-owned companies in Europe.