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Pumped-storage Hydro is a solution for storing power that is generation-method agnostic; it works with electricity from nuclear just as well as it works with el
by jlgreco 13y ago
Pumped-storage Hydro is a solution for storing power that is generation-method agnostic; it works with electricity from nuclear just as well as it works with electricity from wind. Basically the PSH station buys cheap electricity, and uses it to pump water up a hill into a reservoir. When electricity becomes expensive, it reverses the flow, generates electricity with the falling water, and sells it to the grid for a profit. These setups can switch to power generation rather quickly.
The only problem is that you need suitable geography. It's a bit more forgiving than finding proper geography for regular hydroelectric, but it is still a restriction.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pumped-storage_hydroelectricity http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pumped-storage_hydroelectricity
- johngalt 13y agoThe problem with that approach is that Gila Bend has more sunlight than water.
- alexhawdon 13y agoI remember reading a typically opinionated article on the The Register where the claim was made that pumped storage doesn't scale very well. Or rather, it scales fine, but your country will look very different when you've finished the necessary building work.
- Tuna-Fish 13y agoYeah, it can be very good, but there's a limit. There's a very interesting project in Finland to build a pumped storage facility that uses a 1400m deep abandoned gold mine as the storage location. The idea is to use a relatively small amount of water but at very high pressure provided by the depth of the mine -- the high potential difference makes generation more efficient and reduces capital costs. If this thing turns out to be profitable, this will probably be done to all sufficiently deep mine shafts and other deep enough holes. PDF: http://laguna.ethz.ch/indico/getFile.py/access?contribId=2&sessionId=7&resId=0&materialId=slides&confId=12 http://laguna.ethz.ch/indico/getFile.py/access?contribId=2&s...
- jlgreco 13y agoSo do the turbines/generators go at the bottom, in the mine, in this setup? That seems like it would have some interesting engineering challenges.