Pumped storage |
The pumped storage story continues
In its third report on pumped storage, the National Hydropower Association gives a comprehensive overview of the US industry
Above: Ludington Pumped Storage Power project in Michigan, US
Below: Duke Energy’s Jocassee Pumped Storage Power Plant in South Carolina
THE NATIONAL HYDROPOWER ASSOCIATION (NHA) in the US has released its latest Pumped Storage Report to give an insight into historic development and current projects; new project opportunities and challenges; and technological advancement and resource capabilities. “Pumped storage hydropower has proven to be America’s most effective resource for long duration energy storage,” said Cameron Schilling, NHA’s Vice President of Market Strategies and Regulatory Affairs. “The acceleration of wind and solar deployments
underscores the increasing need to integrate large amounts of variable resources. This report shines a spotlight on the value of pumped storage, while providing a path forward for solving the market, policy and regulatory hurdles that hinders its growth. In addition to financing, for pumped storage to fully realise its growth potential, it requires market policies that appropriately value its grid services.” With the first plant in the US being constructed nearly 100 years ago, pumped storage has played an important role in the US’ electricity landscape. There are 43 active projects across the country providing 22,878MW of storage capacity. These facilities range in size from 20MW to 3GW and are located in 18 states – five of which have 61% of the total national capacity. These are California (17%), Virginia (14%), South Carolina (12%), Michigan (10%) and Georgia (8%).
Strong signal The NHA report explains that the past decade has
witnessed considerable increase in the planned deployment of US pumped storage projects. At the end of 2019 there were 67 pumped storage facilities under various stages of development representing 52.5GW of new capacity, a 22% increase from 2018. The bulk of these projects are in the western US which account for 62% of projects and 75% of capacity. Of the 67 projects only three have received their full FERC authorisation and none have begun construction.
16 | November 2021 |
www.waterpowermagazine.com
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