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 southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring coun ...

n provinces of Free State and

KwaZulu-Natal KwaZulu-Natal (, also referred to as KZN and known as "the garden province") is a province of South Africa that was created in 1994 when the Zulu bantustan of KwaZulu ("Place of the Zulu" in Zulu) and Natal Province were merged. It is loca ...

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

, 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 , a ...

and the Driel Barrage. Electricity generation 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. 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, which is one ...

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. It was established in 1923 as the Electricity Supply Commission (ESCOM) and was also known by its Afrikaans name Elektrisiteitsvoorsieningskommissie (EVKOM). Eskom repre ...

-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 {{SouthAfrica-struct-stub

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