Power plant that serves as massive backup plan gets major new investment: 'It helps balance the system'

Citizens of the U.K. got some good news as a crucial power plant got a 25-year extension. 

According to Interesting Engineering, the Dinorwig hydropower plant in North Wales is about to undergo a 10-year, nearly £1 billion ($1.36 billion) refurbishment.

The plant, built in 1984, plays a major role in keeping Britain's lights on. In the case of an outage, it can generate about 1,800 megawatts of power in a matter of only 75 seconds. 

It does this by releasing water from an upper reservoir to a lower reservoir through a tunnel nearly 550 yards long. On the way, the water runs through six turbines, all weighing about 550 tons, to generate energy. The plant releases 86,000 gallons of water per second through a tunnel.

When power is plentiful and demand is low, water is pumped from the lower reservoir back up to the higher reservoir so it can be used to generate electricity again when needed. It's basically a clean energy backup plan so people don't have to go without electricity when energy generation is low.

Clean energy like wind and solar currently supplies 61% of Britain's energy, according to the U.K. government, and the plan is to reach 100% clean energy generation by 2030, eliminating the carbon pollution that contributes to the planet overheating.

Dinorwig, along with the Ffestiniog power station, which is also a pumped hydroelectric power station, can generate enough electricity to power nearly 2 million homes in a matter of seconds if need be, according to The Guardian.

Miya Paolucci, the U.K. boss of ENGIE, one of the owners of the Dinorwig plant, told the publication, "Flexible storage is essential for net zero carbon operation of Britain's electricity system. It helps balance the system by ensuring there's always a large volume of 'back-up' power on standby, that can be delivered in very fast timescales if required."

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