The interesting thing here is the hint about double taxation; apparently this pumped storage facility pays fee when it ingests mWh to store, and again when it r

The interesting thing here is the hint about double taxation; apparently this pumped storage facility pays fee when it ingests mWh to store, and again when it releases them for use. According to the article, that scares away investment in upgrading the facility. The Bloomergites certainly have the chops to unravel and explain this corner of utility economics. Wish they'd do it! The smart-grid future holds all kinds of energy flows into and out of storage. Storage can be characterized in a bunch of ways. * Total energy capacity (mWh) * Peak discharge rate (mW) * Rampup time for discharge. Rampup is most of the content of this article. The 100mW Tesla-built Hornsdale Power Reserve in South Australia has a subsecond rampup time, which makes its energy very valuable for short periods of time. * Local efficiency (mWh discharged / mWh ingested) * System efficiency (mWh at source / mWh at sink, counting transmission loss. The lines up to a mountain dam and back down have losses). * Money efficiency. Taxes, fees, etc. * Peak ingestion rate (mW) * Rampup time for ingestion * Capital cost (please include externalities like decommissioning and disposal costs) * Expected lifetime (pump storage lifetime is very long) * Operating cost The future smart grid needs a finely tuned balance of capacity, rate, and rampup time to succeed.