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Not true. You can pump water to an existing hydroelectric dam, but you can also just pump it to a pond on a hilltop. No environmental disruption. There are lots

by ncmncm 4y ago

Not true. You can pump water to an existing hydroelectric dam, but you can also just pump it to a pond on a hilltop. No environmental disruption. There are lots of hills. The rail system needs maintained rolling stock and maintained rails. The mineshaft method is overwhelmingly cheaper and more reliable, because all that must be kept working is an electric winch. There are lots and lots of disused mineshafts.

WalterBright 4y ago
Sorry, you can't make hydropower without constructing a dam, turbines, and completely disrupting the stream. This is environmentally destructive, and due to the scale needed, there are few suitable sites. There are indeed many unused mineshafts, but a shaft would be only suitable for a small weight, maybe enough for a single house. This does not scale.
- pfdietz 4y ago
  Pumped hydro doesn't require a stream, since it isn't harvesting energy from a preexisting flow of water.
  - WalterBright 4y ago
    How are you going to create a large enough pond?
    - ncmncm 4y ago
      Maybe read up? When you just make shit up as you go along, you say dumb things.
      - WalterBright 4y ago
        Asking a question is not making things up.
    - pfdietz 4y ago
      This involves moving earth in places with suitable topography. The economics depends on both the vertical offset between the two reservoirs, and how much earth has to be moved per unit of reservoir volume. Algorithms have been created to use GIS data to automatically find potential PHES sites. There are lots of candidates. Australia, for example, has 300x more potential that it would need for a 100% renewable grid. http://re100.eng.anu.edu.au/global/ http://re100.eng.anu.edu.au/global/
    - ncmncm 4y ago
      Often there is already a depression you can use as is. Or deepen, and use the excavation for a dike. If not, maybe there is a box canyon you can close the end of with a dam. In places, they have flattened a convex hilltop and used the material to make a dike. Usually you don't need anywhere near as much storage volume as a typical hydroelectric dam reservoir holds.

by ncmncm 4y ago

WalterBright 4y ago

Sorry, you can't make hydropower without constructing a dam, turbines, and completely disrupting the stream. This is environmentally destructive, and due to the scale needed, there are few suitable sites. There are indeed many unused mineshafts, but a shaft would be only suitable for a small weight, maybe enough for a single house. This does not scale.

pfdietz 4y ago
Pumped hydro doesn't require a stream, since it isn't harvesting energy from a preexisting flow of water.
- WalterBright 4y ago
  How are you going to create a large enough pond?
  - ncmncm 4y ago
    Maybe read up? When you just make shit up as you go along, you say dumb things.
    - WalterBright 4y ago
      Asking a question is not making things up.
  - pfdietz 4y ago
    This involves moving earth in places with suitable topography. The economics depends on both the vertical offset between the two reservoirs, and how much earth has to be moved per unit of reservoir volume. Algorithms have been created to use GIS data to automatically find potential PHES sites. There are lots of candidates. Australia, for example, has 300x more potential that it would need for a 100% renewable grid. http://re100.eng.anu.edu.au/global/ http://re100.eng.anu.edu.au/global/
  - ncmncm 4y ago
    Often there is already a depression you can use as is. Or deepen, and use the excavation for a dike. If not, maybe there is a box canyon you can close the end of with a dam. In places, they have flattened a convex hilltop and used the material to make a dike. Usually you don't need anywhere near as much storage volume as a typical hydroelectric dam reservoir holds.