The paper presents a new method of determining the cycle efficiency coefficient of reversible hydraulic units. The basis of this method lies in computing both the energy consumed by the selected unit in order to accumulated water in a fixed layer in the reservoir of a pumped storage power plant, and the energy produced by the same unit using he same water layer. The practical application of this method in the largest Polish pumped storage power plant is discussed – the proposed method has been used for determining the cycle efficiency coefficient of one of the units in this plant. The coefficients determined for three different gross heads along with the assessment of uncertainties are compared with those obtained by means of the classic method of determining hydraulic unit performance under the same operating conditions.
Coefficient, Hydraulic unit, Polish, Reversible hydraulic unit
