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Even I first thought of this while reading about this plan. But may be this is more about cheap and long term storage of electricity. Lithium ion batteries are
by klogw 9y ago
Even I first thought of this while reading about this plan. But may be this is more about cheap and long term storage of electricity. Lithium ion batteries are expensive and also Lithium is limited. But I would definitely like to know how this idea stacks up against the idea of pumping water to a high altitude place and then using it as a battery.
- infogulch 9y ago> "long term" Does it make sense to store energy as heat differentials for long term? Insulation can only work for so long, eventually it will come back to environment temp.
- falsedan 9y agoYou only need to hold this energy until the next peak period hits the grid. The Snowy Mountains Hydroelectric Scheme in Australia actually buys off-peak electricity to run the turbines in reverse & pump water back into reservoirs, and then generated electricity when demand is high: effectively time-shifting power generation & arbitraging the peak/off-peak price difference.
- ZeroGravitas 9y agoLonger term seasonal storage would be handy too in some areas, I think using excess electricity to make hydrogen/methane/ammonia is one avenue that's being explored.
- _justinfunk 9y agoThis idea definently shapes the way I think of modern energy technology. One of the best ways for long-term energy storage is to take something (like water) and move it to a higher spot. We can take advantage of the decay of an atom to generate electricity, but if we want to use that energy later, we push water up a hill.
- giarc 9y agoOr push a train up a hill. http://www.aresnorthamerica.com/ http://www.aresnorthamerica.com/
- 2sk21 9y agoThis is my favorite - moving rocks uphill !
- taneq 9y agoI think there's a huge amount of promise in the idea of "inside out" hydro power, where power is used to pump water out of a pressure vessel deep under water (in a lake or in the ocean) and then later generated by letting water back into the vessel. All the advantages of hydro power but without the necessity of a conveniently shaped mountain range nearby.
- pavel_lishin 9y agoSure, you just need a conveniently shaped deep body of water nearby. Although, depending on your local geography, you could just dig a deep hole.
- taneq 9y agoLast I checked, a far larger percentage of livable land is next to deep water than is next to high altitude lakes. Also, you can use existing deep holes which were dug for other reasons - for instance, open-cut mine pits tend to end up flooded once they're no longer mined.
- maxerickson 9y agoIt doesn't have a huge amount of head, but for an example of the volume of water involved, the upper reservoir at the Ludington Pumped Storage plant is about 100 billion liters (it draws from/empties into Lake Michigan). It's pretty huge, able to produce more than a gigawatt for ~8 hours.
- sloppycee 9y ago