The Drakensberg Pumped Storage Scheme is an energy storage facility built in the

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

n provinces of Free State and

KwaZulu-Natal KwaZulu-Natal (, also referred to as KZN) is a Provinces of South Africa, province of South Africa that was created in 1994 when the government merged the Zulu people, Zulu bantustan of KwaZulu ("Place of the Zulu" in Zulu language, Zulu) and ...

starting in 1974 and completed by 1981. Four dams are involved in the scheme; the Driekloof Dam (''joined to the

Sterkfontein Dam The Sterkfontein Dam, located just outside the town of Harrismith, in the Free State, province of South Africa, is part of the Tugela-Vaal Water Project and the Drakensberg Pumped Storage Scheme, and located on the Nuwejaarspruit, a tributary ...

''), the

Kilburn Dam The Kilburn Dam, an earth-fill type dam and part of the Tugela-Vaal Water Project and Drakensberg Pumped Storage Scheme, is located lower than the Sterkfontein Dam, on the Mnjaneni River, near Bergville, KwaZulu-Natal, province of South Africa. ...

, the

Woodstock Dam Woodstock Dam is located on the upper reaches of the Thukela River, Tugela, KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa and is the main source of water for the Thukela-Vaal Transfer Scheme. The dam was commissioned in 1982, has a storage capacity of , ...

and the Driel Barrage.

Electricity generation Electricity generation is the process of generating electric power from sources of primary energy. For electric utility, utilities in the electric power industry, it is the stage prior to its Electricity delivery, delivery (Electric power transm ...

equipment is located between Driekloof Dam and Kilburn Dam. Since the Driekloof Dam/Sterkfontein Dam also forms part of the Tugela-Vaal Water Project some of the water pumped to Driekloof Dam might end up flowing to the

Vaal Dam The Vaal Dam in South Africa was constructed in 1938 and lies 77 km south of OR Tambo International Airport, Johannesburg. The lake behind the dam wall has a surface area of about and is 47 meters deep. The Vaal Dam lies on the Vaal River ...

and not be available for return to the Kilburn Dam. The Woodstock Dam and Driel Barrage are used to supply this additional water to Kilburn Dam when required. The scheme provides for up to of electricity storage in the form of of water. The water is pumped to Driekloof during times of low national power consumption (generally over weekends) and released back into Kilburn through four turbine generators in times of high electricity demand. Drakensberg Hydropower

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Drakensberg Pumped Storage Scheme
on the

Eskom Eskom Hld SOC Ltd or Eskom is a South African electricity public utility. Eskom was established in 1923 as the Electricity Supply Commission (ESCOM) (). Eskom represents South Africa in the Southern African Power Pool. The utility is the larg ...

-Website Energy infrastructure completed in 1981 Pumped-storage hydroelectric power stations in South Africa Tugela River Vaal River Water supply infrastructure in South Africa Economy of the Free State (province) Economy of KwaZulu-Natal 1981 establishments in South Africa 20th-century architecture in South Africa {{SouthAfrica-struct-stub

See also

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