pumped hydro storage

Two different studies have highlighted the potential and challenges of low-head pumped hydro storage (PHS), which has so far never been implemented in real projects. Different main areas were identified for future research and an interesting levelized cost of storage was indicated for certain project configurations.

Jamaica’s prime minister Andrew Holness revealed that an international consortium is planning to build a pumped-hydro storage project that has already secured preliminary approval. The project, which will also include deep-sea desalination, is currently undergoing technical and due-diligence reviews.

Located in China’s Hebei province, the 3.6GW facility consists of 12 reversible pump generating sets with a capacity of 300MW each and has a power generation capacity from storage of 6.612 billion kWh.

According to Chinese researchers, using abandoned coal mine goaves for pumped hydro facilities in combination with large scale solar and wind is not only technically feasible but can also provide an efficiency of 82.8% in yearly operation cases. They applied the model to wind and solar-rich northwestern and southwestern China.

Proposed by Egyptian scientists, the proposed GIS technique considers a pumped-hydro project’s head and elevation difference, the penstock-length distance from the base plant, the site’s slopes and slope of the ground surface, the distance to the national grid and road networks, and the soil suitability. It also takes into account constraints such as land use and restrictions.

Closed-loop pumped-hydro storage offers more chances to minimize environmental effects on water sources and overcomes the problem of finding suitable sites. According to an Australian research team, closed-loop systems could prevail on open-loop systems in the future and this trend is confirmed by another group of scientists from the United States.

The pumped hydro project aims in part to reduce the amount of electricity that is exported from Ontario to several U.S. states at a loss.

A proposed 500 MW long-duration energy storage project in San Diego County has started a multi-year process to win federal and state approval. If built, it won’t enter into service before 2030.

An energy transition investment report published this week has also revealed the former world record low price for solar power announced by the Al Dhafra project in Abu Dhabi last year, has fallen even lower since.

The state government in Queensland, Australia, has announced plans to finance design work and cost-related studies for the construction of a new pumped hydro facility.