The hydraulic power plant that Bassols Energia has in Llanars, in Ripollès (Girona)) is back in operation after four months of shutdown due to the drought.
The low flow rate of the Ter River forced the company to close machines because the minimum flow rate of 0.2 cubic meters per second did not exist.
Since the company has records, in the 90s, it is a situation that has never happened but, however, in the last year it has happened twice.
With the rains of recent months and, above all, with the last episode of snowfall, the plant has gradually returned to operation until it is at 80% and is expected to reach 100% in the coming days. territory we have breathed a little easier,” explains the company’s head of operations, Josep Pujadas.
The Bassols Energia representative admits that, when they stopped machines, they thought it would be for a few weeks. “No one expected the plant to be shut down for four months due to lack of water,” he admits. And he explains why: “Up here, at the head of the Ter, where it rains a little, there is already a lot of water collection and the plant, with a few cubic meters, can operate at minimum performance.” Specifically, she was detained from November 11 to March 11.
The first rains in March allowed the plant to be reactivated “with minimal production.” ”We are talking about between 6% and 10%,” Pujades stated.
The situation has changed radically since the end of April, when there was a significant episode of snowfall and rain in the Ter basin area, and it has been since then that the plant has been able to work “practically at full capacity.” .
Llanars is a hydraulic power plant that was commissioned in 1924. It has two turbines that take advantage of the movement of water to generate energy and then release it. “Right now we are leaving about 540 liters per second and we are taking about three cubic meters, which is the concession limit we have,” he adds. With the increase in temperatures, and the drop of more water due to the thaw, “we will go to maximum production in a few days.” This week we have already seen how the river water passed over the lock from where the water is collected and then channeled about 3 km to the Llanars power station.
The interruption of activity meant stopping the production of local energy. However, this does not mean that customers stopped receiving energy all this time, because it is supplied from other points and sources, such as thermal or wind power plants. Although Pujadas admits that the energy produced by the Llanars plant is “a grain of sand for the system,” he also emphasizes that “it is renewable and clean energy.”
