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Those are incredible but unfortunately you need the right topology to build them. I don't know about the US but I doubt there's much more of those to be built i

Those are incredible but unfortunately you need the right topology to build them. I don't know about the US but I doubt there's much more of those to be built in Europe.

__alexs 2y ago
Maybe if we bulldozed some ski resorts.
manquer 2y ago
Many normal hydroelectric dams can be converted, they already have half the setup . As long as there is a lower reservoir or space for one , any hydroelectric dam could converted to pumped storage without additional ecological impact .
masklinn 2y ago
I don't think the US has any either, there's a reason they built Tom Sauk (not sure there's any other pretty much entirely artificial PHS). There might be a few locations in the Alps e.g. existing barrages which could be retrofitted into PHS in Switzerland and Austria (KOPS II was commissioned in 2008).
bgnn 2y ago
Sweden snd Norway, maybe? Turkey has a lot of potential sites.
imp0cat 2y ago
There are some viable places in Europe, but the biggest problem seems to be actually getting all the permits required to build them. One can't just chop the top of a mountain nowadays. China does not seem to have this problem.
chris_va 2y ago
https://maps.nrel.gov/psh https://maps.nrel.gov/psh (us) Europe has Norway for storage, but limited renewable potential compared to the US or China (not nothing, offshore wind is a thing, but the available land area for solar is very limited).
- maeil 2y ago
  Surely the Alps have feasible locations, Switzerland opened a plant pretty recently.
bryanlarsen 2y ago
The correct topology is very common. All you need is water and a hill. We've already tapped most of the suitable places for hydro dams because those need flowing water. Pumped storage does not need flowing water so the number of potential sites is massively larger. ANU identified 616,000 potential sites: https://re100.eng.anu.edu.au/global/ https://re100.eng.anu.edu.au/global/

Those are incredible but unfortunately you need the right topology to build them. I don't know about the US but I doubt there's much more of those to be built in Europe.

__alexs 2y ago

Maybe if we bulldozed some ski resorts.

manquer 2y ago

Many normal hydroelectric dams can be converted, they already have half the setup . As long as there is a lower reservoir or space for one , any hydroelectric dam could converted to pumped storage without additional ecological impact .

masklinn 2y ago

I don't think the US has any either, there's a reason they built Tom Sauk (not sure there's any other pretty much entirely artificial PHS). There might be a few locations in the Alps e.g. existing barrages which could be retrofitted into PHS in Switzerland and Austria (KOPS II was commissioned in 2008).

bgnn 2y ago

Sweden snd Norway, maybe? Turkey has a lot of potential sites.

imp0cat 2y ago

There are some viable places in Europe, but the biggest problem seems to be actually getting all the permits required to build them. One can't just chop the top of a mountain nowadays. China does not seem to have this problem.

chris_va 2y ago

https://maps.nrel.gov/psh https://maps.nrel.gov/psh (us) Europe has Norway for storage, but limited renewable potential compared to the US or China (not nothing, offshore wind is a thing, but the available land area for solar is very limited).

maeil 2y ago
Surely the Alps have feasible locations, Switzerland opened a plant pretty recently.

bryanlarsen 2y ago

The correct topology is very common. All you need is water and a hill. We've already tapped most of the suitable places for hydro dams because those need flowing water. Pumped storage does not need flowing water so the number of potential sites is massively larger. ANU identified 616,000 potential sites: https://re100.eng.anu.edu.au/global/ https://re100.eng.anu.edu.au/global/