Load Drops at High-Head Pumped-Storage Power Plants with Branched Conduits

The influence exerted by particular features of the characteristics of high-head pumps-turbines on the occurrence of transitional processes is examined in the conduits at a pumped-storage power plant (PSPP). It is demonstrated that at these plants with branched conduits, conditions may develop when the load drop of one generating set results in the load drop of others, which are hydraulically connected with a common pressure line. Here, a second load drop occurs under more rigorous conditions than when alls sets of the group experience a simultaneous drop, which has always been considered a computational regime. The need for correction of the existing design manual for production regimes of power-plant regulation is formulated with consideration of regime specifics at pumped-storage power plants and the layout of their pressure conduits.