Energy storage | Offering a guiding hand
Pumped storage hydropower has the unique capacity to resolve the challenge of transitioning to renewable energy at huge scale. Despite being the largest form of
renewable energy storage with nearly 200GW of installed capacity in over 400 operational projects, pumped storage still faces barriers to development. To help address this, a new industry collaborated guide provides recommendations for delivering the energy storage solution the world needs. To be in with a chance of meeting net zero goals by 2050, policymakers and the industry are being urged to act upon them
Above: Malcolm Turnbull, President of the IHA, says the pumped storage industry needs to get its act together
“WITHOUT ACCELERATED DEVELOPMENT OF pumped storage hydropower (PSH) the transition to renewables will falter, and fail,” Malcolm Turnbull, President of the International hydropower Association (IHA) says. “The failure to adequately focus on this need for long duration electricity storage is the ignored crisis within the energy crisis.” However, despite the need for such important long duration storage, pumped storage projects are still facing significant challenges which means that there’s a lack of projects progressing to construction, with cost and schedule overruns. “The sector is too important to fail”, says Chris McMonagle, Global Business Development Manager at Bechtel. “We need to do better and address these challenges.” Urging the industry “to get its act together”
Turnbull re-iterates that PSH must be developed in a sustainable and environmentally responsible manner. This includes addressing concerns about potential investment risks, as well as ensuring the
public understands that PSH is very different from conventional hydropower.
New guidance With the above in mind, a new guide has been
launched to provide key decision-makers with recommendations for de-risking investments in pumped storage. It was developed by a working group with members from across the pumped storage hydropower industry, chaired by Bechtel Corporation and supported by the secretariat of the IHA. Amongst working group members were Brookfield Renewables, the European Investment Bank, British Hydropower Association, GE Vernova, Stantec, KPMG, Mott Macdonald, the World Bank Group, Queensland Hydro, Dentons LLP, and the University of Cambridge. As Working Group Chairman Chris McMonagle
explains, the approach taken was to discuss the multiple risks and issues faced by all players in the sector, categorise these into thematic areas, identify those causing the greatest barriers to success, and
View of the upper reservoir of the Markersbach pumped storage power plant in Saxony, Germany
32 | September 2024 |
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