3 ms·

Almost 700,000 gallons of water go untapped over Niagara Falls every second. There's no point in pumping water back up until you've harnessed that first.

by qbrass 11y ago

Retric 11y ago
They also do hydro so Niagara Falls is effectively just a large and expensive fountain with controlled discharge. As long as pumping up does not increase the rate of Niagra Falls the area works just fine as pumped storage. PS: The water feature is even down for matinee. http://www.refinery29.com/2016/02/102431/new-york-niagara-falls-stop-flowing http://www.refinery29.com/2016/02/102431/new-york-niagara-fa...
- ptaipale 11y ago
  > As long as pumping up does not increase the rate of Niagra Falls But isn't that what it does? Unless you start to limit (more than before) the waterflow to the falls themselves, which probably would meet resistance from conservationists. (I understand the Lewiston power plant already does have capability to pump water up.) And, many places don't have such reservoir capacity at hand. Over here any new reservoir project meets fierece resistance, and it's rather the other way round: nature conservationists want to shut down existing hydroelectric capacity.
  - Retric 11y ago
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Moses_Niagara_Power_Plant#Lewiston_Pump-Generating_Plant https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Moses_Niagara_Power_Pla... is just one of several hydro power projects in the area. It's complex there are few environmental effects from blocking the falls as they are already one way and tend to kill fish that make the trip. However, there is a treaty that set's minimum flow levels and more water is diverted at night to a holding area which is then used for hydro in the day. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niagara_Falls_hydroelectric_generating_plants https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niagara_Falls_hydroelectric_ge... Anyway, the area already has plenty of pumped storage it's only by importing a lot of power that you would need to expand. But, at that point you can scale really far with few environmental costs.

Almost 700,000 gallons of water go untapped over Niagara Falls every second. There's no point in pumping water back up until you've harnessed that first.

by qbrass 11y ago

Almost 700,000 gallons of water go untapped over Niagara Falls every second. There's no point in pumping water back up until you've harnessed that first.

Retric 11y ago

They also do hydro so Niagara Falls is effectively just a large and expensive fountain with controlled discharge. As long as pumping up does not increase the rate of Niagra Falls the area works just fine as pumped storage. PS: The water feature is even down for matinee. http://www.refinery29.com/2016/02/102431/new-york-niagara-falls-stop-flowing http://www.refinery29.com/2016/02/102431/new-york-niagara-fa...

ptaipale 11y ago
> As long as pumping up does not increase the rate of Niagra Falls But isn't that what it does? Unless you start to limit (more than before) the waterflow to the falls themselves, which probably would meet resistance from conservationists. (I understand the Lewiston power plant already does have capability to pump water up.) And, many places don't have such reservoir capacity at hand. Over here any new reservoir project meets fierece resistance, and it's rather the other way round: nature conservationists want to shut down existing hydroelectric capacity.
- Retric 11y ago
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Moses_Niagara_Power_Plant#Lewiston_Pump-Generating_Plant https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Moses_Niagara_Power_Pla... is just one of several hydro power projects in the area. It's complex there are few environmental effects from blocking the falls as they are already one way and tend to kill fish that make the trip. However, there is a treaty that set's minimum flow levels and more water is diverted at night to a holding area which is then used for hydro in the day. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niagara_Falls_hydroelectric_generating_plants https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niagara_Falls_hydroelectric_ge... Anyway, the area already has plenty of pumped storage it's only by importing a lot of power that you would need to expand. But, at that point you can scale really far with few environmental costs.