Pumped storage hydroelectricity

Overview

At times of low electrical demand, excess generation capacity is used to pump water into the upper reservoir. When there is higher demand, water is released back into the lower reservoir through a turbine, generating electricity. Reversible turbine/generator assemblies act as a combined pump and turbine generator unit (usually a Francis turbine design). In open-loop systems, pure pumped-storage plants store water in an upper reservoir with no natural inflows, while pump-back plants utilize a combination of pumped storage and conventional hydroelectric plants with an upper reservoir that is replenished in part by natural inflows from a stream or river. Plants that do not use pumped-storage are referred to as conventional hydroelectric plants; conventional hydroelectric plants that have significant storage capacity may be able to play a similar role in the electrical grid as pumped storage by deferring output until needed.

Taking into account evaporation losses from the exposed water surface and conversion losses, energy recovery of 70-80% or more can be regained. This technique is currently the most cost-effective means of storing large amounts of electrical energy, but capital costs and the presence of appropriate geography are critical decision factors in selecting pumped-storage plant sites.

The relatively low energy density of pumped storage systems requires either large flows and/or large differences in height between reservoirs. The only way to store a significant amount of energy is by having a large body of water located relatively near, but as high above as possible, a second body of water. In some places this occurs naturally, in others one or both bodies of water were man-made. Projects in which both reservoirs are artificial and in which no natural inflows are involved with either reservoir are referred to as "closed loop" systems.

These systems may be economical because they flatten out load variations on the power grid, permitting thermal power stations such as coal-fired plants and nuclear power plants that provide base-load electricity to continue operating at peak efficiency, while reducing the need for "peaking" power plants that use the same fuels as many base-load thermal plants, gas and oil, but have been designed for flexibility rather than maximal efficiency. Hence pumped storage systems are crucial when coordinating large groups of heterogeneous generators. However, capital costs for pumped-storage plants are relatively high.

Along with energy management, pumped storage systems help control electrical network frequency and provide reserve generation. Thermal plants are much less able to respond to sudden changes in electrical demand, potentially causing frequency and voltage instability. Pumped storage plants, like other hydroelectric plants, can respond to load changes within seconds.

The most important use for pumped storage has traditionally been to balance baseload powerplants, but may also be used to abate the fluctuating output of intermittent energy sources. Pumped storage provides a load at times of high electricity output and low electricity demand, enabling additional system peak capacity. In certain jurisdictions, electricity prices may be close to zero or occasionally negative on occasions that there is more electrical generation available than there is load available to absorb it; although at present this is rarely due to wind or solar power alone, increased wind and solar generation will increase the likelihood of such occurrences. It is particularly likely that pumped storage will become especially important as a balance for very large scale photovoltaic generation. Increased long distance transmission capacity combined with significant amounts of energy storage will be a crucial part of regulating any large-scale deployment of intermittent renewable power sources. The high non-firm renewable electricity penetration in some regions supplies 40% of annual output, but 60% may be reached before additional storage is necessary.

There are small-scale installations of such technology, namely in buildings, although these are economically unfeasible given the economies of scale present. Also, a large volume of water is required for a meaningful storage capacity which is a difficult fit for an urban setting. Nevertheless, some authors defend its technological simplicity and secure provision of water as important externalities.

History

The first use of pumped storage was in the 1890s in Italy and Switzerland. In the 1930s reversible hydroelectric turbines became available. These turbines could operate as both turbine-generators and in reverse as electric motor driven pumps. The latest in large-scale engineering technology are variable speed machines for greater efficiency. These machines operate in synchronization with the network frequency when generating, but operate asynchronously (independent of the network frequency) when pumping.

The first use of pumped-storage in the United States was in 1930 by the Connecticut Electric and Power Company, using a large reservoir located near New Milford, Connecticut, pumping water from the Housatonic River to the storage reservoir 230 feet above.

Worldwide use

In 2009, world pumped storage generating capacity was 104 GW, while other sources claim 127 GW, which comprises the vast majority of all types of utility grade electric storage. The EU had 38.3 GW net capacity (36.8% of world capacity) out of a total of 140 GW of hydropower and representing 5% of total net electrical capacity in the EU. Japan had 25.5 GW net capacity (24.5% of world capacity).

In 2010 the United States had 21.5 GW of pumped storage generating capacity (20.6% of world capacity). PHS generated (net) -5.501 GWh of energy in 2010 in the US because more energy is consumed in pumping than is generated. Nameplate pumped storage capacity had grown to 21.6 GW by 2014, with pumped storage comprising 97% of grid-scale energy storage in the US. As of late 2014, there were 51 active project proposals with a total of 39 GW of new nameplate capacity across all stages of the FERC licensing process for new pumped storage hydroelectric plants in the US, but no new plants were currently under construction in the US at the time.

The five largest operational pumped-storage plants are listed below (for a detailed list see List of pumped-storage hydroelectric power stations):

Pump-back hydroelectric dams

Conventional hydroelectric dams may also make use of pumped storage in a hybrid system that both generates power from water naturally flowing into the reservoir as well as storing water pumped back to the reservoir from below the dam. The Grand Coulee Dam in the US was expanded with a pump-back system in 1973. Existing dams may be repowered with reversing turbines thereby extending the length of time the plant can operate at capacity. Optionally a pump back powerhouse such as the Russell Dam(1992) may be added to a dam for increased generating capacity. Making use of an existing dams upper reservoir and transmission system can expedite projects and reduce costs.

Seawater

Pumped storage plants can operate on seawater, although there are additional challenges involved compared to operation with fresh water. In 1999, the 30 MW Yanbaru project in Okinawa was the first demonstration of seawater pumped storage. A 300 MW seawater-based project has recently been proposed on Lanai, Hawaii, and several seawater-based projects have been proposed in Ireland and Chile.

Direct pumping

A new concept is to use wind turbines or solar power to drive water pumps directly. This could provide a more efficient process and usefully smooth out the variability of energy captured from the wind or sun. In northern Chile, the Espejo de Tarapacá project is a power project of Valhalla, that combines solar and hydroelectric resources. The project takes advantage of the unique geographic characteristics of the Atacama Desert in order to build a 300 MW pumped storage hydroelectric plant that uses the Pacific Ocean as its lower reservoir and an existing natural concavity as its upper reservoir, and a 600 MW-AC solar photovoltaic plant that is located in the region with the highest solar irradiation in the world. The above characteristics minimize the environmental impact and the cost of the plant, which is USD 400 MM for the pumped storage and USD 900 MM for the solar power plant.

Underground reservoirs

The use of underground reservoirs has been investigated. Recent examples include the proposed Summit project in Norton, Ohio, the proposed Maysville project in Kentucky (underground limestone mine), and the Mount Hope project in New Jersey, which was to have used a former iron mine as the lower reservoir. Several new underground pumped storage projects have been proposed. Cost-per-kilowatt estimates for these projects can be lower than for surface projects if they use existing underground mine space. There are limited opportunities involving suitable underground space, but the number of underground pumped storage opportunities may increase if abandoned coal mines prove suitable.

Decentralised systems

Small pumped-storage hydropower plants can be built on streams and within infrastructures, such as drinking water networks and artificial snow making infrastructures. Such plants provide distributed energy storage and distributed flexible electricity production and can contribute to the decentralized integration of intermittent renewable energy technologies, such as wind power and solar power. Reservoirs that can be used for small pumped-storage hydropower plants could include natural or artificial lakes, reservoirs within other structures such as irrigation, or unused portions of mines or underground military installations. In Switzerland one study suggested that the total installed capacity of small pumped-storage hydropower plants in 2011 could be increased by 3 to 9 times by providing adequate policy instruments.

Underwater reservoirs

In March 2017 the research project StEnSea (Storing Energy at Sea) announced their successful completion of a four week test of a pumped storage underwater reservoir. In this configuration a hollow sphere submerged in deep water acts as the lower reservoir while the upper reservoir is the enclosing body of water. When a reversible turbine integrated into the sphere uses surplus electricity to pump water out of the sphere the force of the pump must act on the entire column of water above the sphere, so the deeper the sphere is located, the more potential energy it can store and convert back to electricity by letting water back in via the turbine.

As such the energy storage capacity of the submerged reservoir is not governed by the gravitational energy in the traditional sense, but rather by the vertical pressure variation.

While StEnSea's test took place at a depth of 100 m in the fresh water Lake Constance, the technology is foreseen to be used in salt water at greater depths. Since the submerged reservoir needs only a connecting electrical cable, the depth at which it can be employed is limited only by the depth at which the turbine can function, currently limited to 700 m. The challenge of designing salt water pumped storage in this underwater configuration brings a range of advantages:

A current commercial design featuring a sphere with an inner diameter of 30 m submerged to 700 m would correspond to a 20 MWh capacity which with a 5 MW turbine would lead to a 4 hour discharge time. An energy park with multiple such reservoirs would bring the storage cost to around a few eurocents per kWh with construction and equipment costs in the range 1200-1400 € per kW. To avoid excessive transmission cost and loss, the reservoirs should be placed off deep water coasts of densely populated areas, such as Norway, Spain, USA and Japan. With this limitation the concept would allow for worldwide electricity storage of close to 900 GWh.

For comparison, a traditional, gravity-based pumped storage capable of storing 20 MWh in a water reservoir the size of a 30 m sphere would need a hydraulic head of 519 m with the elevation spanned by a pressurized water pipe requiring typically a hill or mountain for support.