Conceptual design of the Valmeer's pump storage station of the DELTA21 plan

Abstract

It is
widely known that climate change will cause sea level rise and larger river
discharges in the close future (because more precipitation during a shorter
amount of time will happen). In the Netherlands, the delta works were developed
to protect the hinterland from sea-water during storm surge situations. The
storm surge barriers close and the water is kept at the sea. However, if large
river discharges are present together with storm surge, the water level behind
the barriers will rise because the closed barrier won't let the river water
out. In delta areas, this is a major threat to water safety. To tackle these
future problems Huub Lavooij and Leen Berke came up with the DELTA21 plan.  The plan is to build a storm surge barrier
together with pumps that can evacuate the water from the river in the event of
having both storm surge and large river discharges happening simultaneously. As
this situation will happen once every ten years on average, there is a risk
that the pumps might not function when needed if they were on hold for ten
years. To tackle that problem and also producing green energy, a hydro pump
storage basin is proposed to take advantage of the pumps already installed for
flood protection. This hydro pump storage basin is called Valmeer. As this
structure would be built next to the Maasvlakte 2, in a red Natura 2000 area,
some ecological value must be gained with this project in return. That is why
the Getijmeer (tidal lake) was created. This tidal lake would allow opening the
Haringvliet sluices and thus recovering fish migration in that area. Bringing
then the ecological, recreational and economic value to the Haringvliet area,
which is currently closed to the sea. The objective of this thesis is to create
a conceptual design of a hydro pump storage station able to turbine water in
for energy generation and to pump it out for the same purpose and also for
water safety.  For designing the plant,
three locations and three different alternatives were considered. Finally, a
pump storage station that is also a storm surge barrier is proposed in the
northern part of the DELTA21 plan, next to the Maasvlakte 2. Aspects such as
constructability, affection of sediment transport to the plant, wave loading
and access to the plant were taken into account for choosing the location and
the most suitable alternative.  The
chosen alternative was found to be a good option if special care is taken about
piping protection (the structure is subjected to head differences of 23 meters)
and about methods to avoid water infiltration into the building pit during the
construction of the plant (the building pit's floor is at NAP -32 m).  As a part of the design, a life cycle
analysis on CO2 emissions was performed. This showed that the hydro pump
storage station can bring positive ecological value in terms of CO2 emissions
reduction for the grid of the Netherlands. Producing energy at 280 g of CO2/kWh
at present grid conditions and at -140 g of CO2/kWh if renewable energy is used
to power the pumps. The conventional fossil fuel energy-producing methods do it
at between 500 and 1050 g of CO2/kWh.  Therefore
this thesis shows that the DELTA21 plan is not only good for flood protection
but for renewable energy generation. Contributing then to the United Nations
Sustainable Development Goals of "affordable and clean energy"
(energy generation function) and "life on land" (water safety
function).