INSIGHT | PUMPED STORAGE TUNNELS
city, the more beneficial they are to the quality
of the power, allowing them to gain revenue for secondary services such as voltage and frequency regulation.
● Industry capacity: Hydropower development is a mature industry. But with limited hydropower installations over the last 50 years, particularly projects associated with pumped storage, the number of entities and skilled people to develop these projects is extremely limited. With the potential growth over the next 25 years, the capacity to deliver needs to grow even more so.
PROJECT EXAMPLES There are hundreds of billions of dollars of pumped storage projects proposed worldwide, including in the US. However, only a handful are in or about to begin construction. Our teams at Stantec have vast experience when it comes to designing pumped storage projects. We have worked on projects all the around the world, from the US to the UK to Asia. It should come as no surprise, but not all pumped storage projects are the same. Some key examples of our project work include: ● Coire Glas in the UK, which is a new plant just beginning construction with an exploratory audit. The facility is a 1300-megawatt (MW) plant being constructed by SSE Renewables. It is the first such plant in 40 years to be built in the UK.
● In North America, Eagle Mountain is a 1300MW (26,000 MWh) scheme at a brownfield site outside of Palm Springs, California. It is ideally located on the high voltage corridor between Phoenix and Los Angeles. The site uses the mine pits from an old, abandoned iron mine as the reservoirs, connected by an underground power complex and waterway. The project has most of its permits and licenses. There is similar progress being made in Montana, Oregon, and Washington. With dozens of others in
planning and early design, the time has come for more pumped storage in North America. After all, the last pumped storage project constructed in the US was very small and more than 15 years ago. The last utility grade project that compares in size was nearly 30 years ago.
● There are also examples around the world. The Snowy 2.0 project in Australia is under construction but has been hit with some delays. It should be back in construction soon. Australia has several more projects in the hopper, with one potentially being the largest pumped storage project ever to be built. Israel also has developed three major facilities: Gilboa, Manarra, and Kochav. The 300MW Gilboaw was recently completed and is now in operation, Kokhav (344MW) is nearing completion while Manarra is just starting construction.
PROMOTING ENERGY RESILIENCY WITH PUMPED STORAGE HYDROPOWER The energy transition won’t happen overnight. It will take significant planning and investment in our electrical infrastructure. And as we start to bring more and more renewable energy online, we must find a way to reliably manage our grid. Like we said earlier, renewable forms of energy like solar power and wind power are great for society and the environment. But when the generation of solar wanes in the evening hours, or the generation of wind power wanes on calm days, we must find a way to sustainably store electricity for times of peak demand. That’s why we believe whole-heartedly in pumped
storage hydropower projects. There is a reason these kinds of projects have been around for more than a century. Pumped storage is both reliable and sustainable, and it can reduce our need for fossil-fuel based generation. That’s why it’s a key to the energy transition, and why we’re working around the world to develop these kinds of projects.
24 | Fall 2023
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