Westinghouse and VV Sign Deal on First European PTES System

Bratislava, 25 July (TASR) – Westinghouse Electric Company has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Slovak state-owned company Water Management Construction (Vodohospodarska vystavba – VV) to assess the feasibility of building the first European commercial pumped thermal energy storage (PTES) system in Slovakia. The signing ceremony took place in Washington, attended by Slovak Environment Minister Tomas Taraba (nominee of the Slovak National Party) and VV General Director Peter Molda, Westinghouse announced on Friday. „The modernisation of European and Slovak industry is massively increasing electricity consumption. If Slovakia wants to succeed in attracting new investments in the artificial intelligence sector, it must have sufficient and stable energy capacities. This new investment addresses both of these challenges and positions us among the global leaders in the safe and efficient use of energy,” said Minister Taraba. The proposed project would provide a gigawatt-scale long-duration energy storage system to store surplus electricity produced by VV-operated hydropower plants and deliver it to consumers when needed. The innovative solution, designed to store energy for durations ranging from eight hours to several days, will enable more flexible use of renewable energy sources in Slovakia, strengthen the country’s grid stability and resilience, and improve the alignment of energy production with demand, the company stated. The agreement outlines a two-month preliminary study to analyse the economic and environmental feasibility of the project, and provides a framework for a 12-month initial engineering and design phase to determine the system configuration. The Westinghouse PTES system is scheduled to be operational by 2030 and will rely on local suppliers. „This is a huge opportunity for us to become one of the most efficient European organisations capable of maximising the use of electricity generated by hydropower plants – whether on the Danube, Vah or Orava,” added VV General Director Molda. mf