Pumped Hydro

Hydrostor’s Underground Pumped Hydro Ontario Storage Plan Runs Into the BESS Benchmark

Ontario does not need another storage technology startup searching for a problem today. It needs capacity, flexibility, and reliability in specific places where the grid is constrained and where new generation and wires take years to build. That is the right way to look at Hydrostor’s proposed Quinte Energy Storage … [continued]

3-D Printed Concrete Enlisted For Futuristic Subsea Energy Storage Demonstration

A new US energy storage project will adapt the power of pumped storage hydro to subsea locations near offshore wind farms and energy-hungry coastal cities, leveraging 3-D printing and the natural force of water pressure.

Dense Fluid Pumped Hydro Doesn’t Make Any Sense & A Mea Culpa

A recent online discussion on gravity storage brought the usual suspects out of the woodwork. Proponents of heavy fluid pumped hydro reared their sludgy heads this time. Follow along for why this is a silly idea, as all gravity storage options that aren’t pushing water uphill turn out to be. … [continued]

Gravity Storage 101, Or Why Pumped Hydro Is The Only Remotely Real Gravity Storage

In my recent article celebrating the great month that pumped hydro had, between the Loch Ness Red John facility selling to Statkraft, the UK finally settling on cap and floor for the technology and China having 365 GW of power and 4 to 8 TWh of energy storage under construction, … [continued]

Balancing Renewables Requires Big Grid Storage, But What Kinds? (India Seminar Slides & Transcript)

Under the auspices of the India Smart Grid Forum, the think tank founded as an umbrella organization over India’s 28 state utilities to provide thought leadership, share leading practices, and bring international insights to India, I’m delivering bi-weekly webinars framed by the Short List of Climate Actions That Will Work. With the … [continued]

Germany’s CO2 Off 10%, Coal & Nuclear Down, Gas Networks Next, Oz Debates Nuclear

Recently I was engaged in an odd conversation online, one that spanned from Australia to Germany, almost exactly the opposite sides of the world. Australia is in the throes of a deeply odd energy conversation about whether nuclear generation is necessary or not (it isn’t). The leader of the Australia’s … [continued]