View of Affolderner See and Edersee from the Waldeck Pumped Storage Power Plant

The Waldeck pumped storage power plants were built to use excess electricity to pump water into the high-altitude upper reservoirs during off-peak times and to use water from the upper reservoirs to generate electricity during peak times. This is done in Waldeck I and Waldeck II.In the two pumped storage power plants, which function as peak-load power plants, Eder water is pumped from Lake Affoldern through the storage pumps driven by the generators via the pressure pipelines into the two upper reservoirs. During peak times, the water flows back down through the pressure pipelines so that it can be used by the water turbines and generators of the pumped storage power plants to generate up to 600 megawatts (MW) of electrical power as needed. This is one of the reasons why the water level in Lake Affoldern varies considerably.Both pumped storage power plants use Lake Affoldern, which also serves as a flood retention basin, as a lower reservoir. The Affoldern run-of-river power plant was integrated into the outlet structure of the Affolderner See. From here you can see the Edersee, the Affolderner See, the Kellerwald forest and the Hoher Habichtswald forest, among other places.