Iberdrola’s 880MW pumped hydro plant in Portugal to go online in mid-2022

By Cameron Murray
LinkedIn
Twitter
Reddit
Facebook
Email
Water will come down into Gouvães reservoir (pictured), from Daivões reservoir 650 metres above it. Image: Iberdrola.

Iberdrola expects its 880MW pumped hydro plant at the Tâmega energy storage complex in northern Portugal to become fully operational in the middle of this year. 

It has just connected the first of four 220-MW turbines at the Gouvães hydroelectric power plant, which will provide 880MW of pumped hydro energy storage (PHES) alongside two run-of-river hydroelectric plants which bring the complex’s total hydoelectric power to 1,158MW. Gouvães and one other will go online in mid-2022 while a third will start in mid-2024. 

This article requires Premium SubscriptionBasic (FREE) Subscription

Enjoy 12 months of exclusive analysis

  • Regular insight and analysis of the industry’s biggest developments
  • In-depth interviews with the industry’s leading figures
  • Annual digital subscription to the PV Tech Power journal
  • Discounts on Solar Media’s portfolio of events, in-person and virtual

Or continue reading this article for free

The Gouvães plant will increase Portugal’s pumped hydro power by 30% from where it is today. 

The Tâmega energy storage complex is being built on the Tâmega river with €1.5 billion (US$1.69 billion) of investment by Iberdrola, with the help of a €650 million loan from the European Investment Bank (EIB).

It will be able to produce 1,766 GWh per year and will be a hybrid plant with two attached wind farms totalling 300MW. The wind power will partially be used to drive the water back up to the Gouvães reservoir, as well as being fed into the grid. 

The Gouvães plant ranks as one of the larger pumped hydro projects of recent years.

It is the same size as a recently proposed 900MW project in Wyoming, US, and a bit smaller than India’s 1.2GW project in Andra Pradesh. The latter will be combined with 2GW of solar and 400MW of wind power, awarded to developer Greenko through a competitive tender process, recorded as the lowest priced renewables-plus-storage project in the world when it was approved in 2018.

Australia’s first new pumped hydro project in nearly 40 years is 250MW and currently under construction. Elsewhere a 500MW project in California and a 450MW project in Scotland are at different stages of gaining approval

Tâmega will provide around half the pumped hydro power of the largest existing pumped hydro plant in Europe, the 1,780MW Cortes-La Muela in Valencia, Spain, which was built in the 80s.

Workers in tunnels at the Tâmega complex. Image: Iberdrola
1 July 2025
Leonardo Royal Hotel London Tower Bridge, London, UK
24 February 2026
InterContinental London - The O2, London, UK
This isn’t just another summit – it’s our biggest and most exhilarating Summit yet! Picture this: immersive workshop spaces where ideas come to life, dedicated industry working groups igniting innovation, live podcasts sparking lively discussions, hard-hitting keynotes that will leave you inspired, and an abundance of networking opportunities that will take your connections to new heights!

Read Next

Sponsored
May 19, 2025
Goldwind discusses how its unmatched system-level expertise from the renewables space makes it ideally placed to solve the key industry challenges it sees emerging in energy storage.
May 15, 2025
Utility and power generation firm Engie has started construction on a 100MW/400MWh BESS project in Belgium, for which it has enlisted system integrator NHOA Energy to provide the BESS.
May 15, 2025
Sungrow has deployed a large-scale battery system at a site in Finland less than 100km from the Arctic Circle.
May 8, 2025
CATL has launched a 9MWh grid-scale BESS product which comprises two smaller units stacked on top of each other, which it said gets around weight challenges for transportation.
May 8, 2025
European energy storage trade association EASE has recommended the harmonisation of international standards for battery storage safety.

Most Popular

Email Newsletter