On April 18, 1960, it was decided to build the Elektrėnai power plant. In the future, it was planned to build the Ignalina nuclear power plant, so the idea arose to build a pumped storage power plant, which would regulate the operation of the energy system by smoothing out load imbalances, i.e., improve the quality of electricity supply, and in the event of an accident in the system, compensate for the energy deficit with its activities. In 1962, after examining six possible construction sites for such a power plant, the Kruonis (1,600 MW) and Sudervė (2,000 MW) power plants with potential generated power appeared to be the most promising. The essential economic advantage of the Kruonis HPP is that 63.5 km² of Kaunas Lagoon can be used for the lower pond. The Sudervė HPP would have required the construction of an expensive lower basin and damming of the Neris River.
According to its operating principle, such a power plant is the only one in the Baltic Sea region. It has two water storage tanks – the upper and lower basins. The Kruonis HPP units lift water from the Kaunas Lagoon to the upper basin, located 100 m above the lagoon water level, when the load on the energy system is low and there is a lot of cheap surplus energy (for example, at night). During the day, when the energy demand increases and the upper basin is filled, the Kruonis power plant can operate as a conventional hydroelectric power plant. The construction of the power plant began in 1984, the last, fourth unit, began operating in 1998.
Translated by Google •
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