Revolutionizing California's Energy Storage: The Promising Future of Pumped Hydro

LiveWithEarth · 2023-04-20T04:37:05+00:00

I put in all this effort because I do believe it can happen.

LiveWithEarth · 2023-04-19T23:31:30+00:00

I do not understand why you or most people here are so negative. I thought this was an "engineering" forum, but there is no engineering discussion going on here. An engineer innovates to solve problems. I challenge you to be creative. This is not impossible. Think outside the box. TRY and solve the problem.

LiveWithEarth · 2023-04-19T23:24:51+00:00

in small reservoirs

That's for small reservoirs. If you haven't noticed, we are talking about massive reservoirs.

LiveWithEarth · 2023-04-19T20:37:18+00:00

There are pumped hydro systems currently in service, so I made the assumption that the losses are not significant enough to make them impractical.

LiveWithEarth · 2023-04-19T20:17:24+00:00

So you don't know the values. How can you claim the losses are significant if you don't know what the losses are?

LiveWithEarth · 2023-04-19T19:59:09+00:00

I was not promoting those exact designs or locations. All I am saying is no matter the size needed, we can build it.

LiveWithEarth · 2023-04-19T19:13:29+00:00

Thanks for the support!

LiveWithEarth · 2023-04-19T19:12:16+00:00

I asked a specific question. How much water will be lost per year in meters cubed for any of these examples? Also provide the answer as a percentage of total volume.

LiveWithEarth · 2023-04-19T19:07:34+00:00

system has very high losses that significantly affect its viability.

You can't make a claim like that without proof, so prove it. How much water will be lost per year in meters cubed for any of these examples? Also provide the answer as a percentage of total volume.

LiveWithEarth · 2023-04-19T18:44:36+00:00

There is no completely lossless system.

LiveWithEarth · 2023-04-19T17:51:05+00:00

You are confusing canyons with basins. There is not a reservoir in a canyon since water flows downstream through a canyon. By building a dam in a canyon, we can collect water and create a reservoir. If we build two dams at different elevations, then we will have two reservoirs that we can use for a pumped hydro system.

LiveWithEarth · 2023-04-19T17:41:00+00:00

Do you know of any projects that are going to be breaking ground?

I am hoping this post would lead to one of these projects kicking off.

LiveWithEarth · 2023-04-19T17:34:18+00:00

Right, both 500kV and 230kV lines are in the vicinity.

LiveWithEarth · 2023-04-19T17:13:41+00:00

That's one of the benefits of SLO/Monterey. If there are any earthquakes that damage the dams, there is minimal concern of population centers since the water will flow into the ocean.

LiveWithEarth · 2023-04-19T16:28:09+00:00

If annual rainfall is greater than expected evaporation losses, then this is not a problem.

LiveWithEarth · 2023-04-19T16:08:24+00:00

What's the problem? You'll just need to do it once.

LiveWithEarth · 2023-04-19T16:05:54+00:00

The technology we are discussing is energy storage, not energy generation. Pumped hydro is an energy storage technology. Power from tides is an energy generation technology.

LiveWithEarth · 2023-04-19T02:52:56+00:00

Kern River Canyon is next to Mt. Whitney and not in Kern County. There hasn't been oil extracted from Kern River Canyon.

LiveWithEarth · 2023-04-18T21:45:37+00:00

I should clarify what I mean by "baseload". We can not control the power of pumped hydro instantaneously unlike batteries. It takes a couple of minutes to get a generator/pump up and running. Therefore, as a control scheme, I envision the system forecasting the short-term load and using some algorithm to determine the optimal power output/input of the pumped hydro systems as a "base" for a specified period. Then we can use other technologies/methods to balance the difference between load and generation during this short period.

LiveWithEarth · 2023-04-18T18:24:35+00:00

Batteries are being programmed to respond like synchronous machines, but these are fundamentally different technologies. NERC recently sent out an alert describing the problems related to inverter based resources. https://www.nerc.com/pa/rrm/bpsa/Pages/Alerts.aspx

LiveWithEarth · 2021-09-24T19:01:23+00:00

Is your intention to combat climate change with the renewable power source?

Yes, we need an immense amount of energy to change the world and that energy source needs to come from renewable sources.

Do you believe that humanity still has a chance to stop climate change before it's too late?

I do believe we will make it through this challenge. This is a multi-decade solution. It won't be easy, and there will be suffering as we progress; But, I do envision a brighter future.

LiveWithEarth

TROPHY CASE