We write this post with a sad heart in terms of our commitment to share the truth about renewable energy. That’s because we dreamed of a network of energy storage dams across the landscape, also providing leisure entertainment. However, we are learning our hopes are not always commercially viable. Could pumped energy storage fade away completely?
The Evidence Suggests This Might Be The Case
It makes sense to build a water storage dam where supply matches future consumer demand. And if we could build two dams in a row down a gorge, we could use them for pumped storage as an added bonus. However, we learned from an April 19, 2022 AP News post that spec-building energy storage dams works differently.
Constructing a new one ‘doesn’t make financial sense,’ according to community affairs manager for Consumers Energy Eric Gustad. ‘Unless we get some help from the state or federal government, I don’t see it happening any time soon,’ he adds. Why is this so, what changed?
United States has a good track record until recently. U.S. has 43 pumped storage schemes with combined capacity of 22 gigawatts. This capacity matches the output of a similar number of nuclear power plants. However, only one small hydro joined the grid since 1995, suggesting pumped energy storage could indeed fade away.
Why Is Pumped Energy Storage Fading Away
Eric Gustad’s company Consumers Energy operates a pumped storage facility overlooking Lake Michigan. There, a gigantic asphalt-and-clay pond holds enough water to energize 1.5 million households, when it returns stored energy in water back to the lake.
Consumers Energy had a sister site but it sold it off without developing it. ‘I wish we could build 10 more of these. I love ’em,’ Eric Gustad told AP News. But the problem is getting licenses from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
There are numerous economic, regulatory and logistical barriers. ‘The permitting process is crazy,’ Malcolm Woolf, president of the National Hydropower Association complains. ‘There are too many agencies involved.’ We understand there are applications in the pipeline. Will somebody please move a few logs to one side.
Breaking News
Extend the Life of Your EV Vehicle Battery
Smart Battery Electrode Architecture with AI
Preview Image: Ludington Google Earth Screenshot
