An energy storage facility in New York, USA, was looking for a way to improve the efficiency of their power generating turbines. During periods of peak demand the water is routed from the upper to the lower reservoir making the turbines produce power through gravitational forces only. When the demand for water is low, the water is pumped back uphill using the turbines and generators as pumps. In order to improve the performance of the turbine it was necessary to monitor the output efficiency by measuring certain aspects of the application, such as flow and pressure. These values are used to calculate the turbine performance enabling plant operators to monitor the entire process and to detect any trends and track changes over time.  
One of the major issues at the energy facility was the installation itself. Because of the way it was configured with water flowing to the turbine during the day and water being pumped back up to the reservoir at night, the solution had to take this bi-directional flow into account. In addition, the pipe diameter was so large and the pressures were so high that only one flow technology was deemed fit for the job: ultrasonic clamp-on flow measurement. 

A local Siemens area representative met with the energy storage facility and proposed the SITRANS FS230 clamp-on ultrasonic flow meter. Because of the sheer size, the space limitations and performance requirements of the application, the SITRANS FS230 clamp-on ultrasonic flow meter was the only suitable option. After extensive research, Siemens developed a non-intrusive solution based on the FS230 clamp-on flow meter that met the energy facility's requirements.