Save Batteries for EV's, but grid scale storage should all be off-river Pumped Hydro Electricity Storage. It's just cheaper and better

[Eclipse Now]

On-River PHES (Pumped Hydro Electricity Storage) IS already maxed out and the last best sites are all ecological hotspots and would disrupt river systems and fisheries. But there's an answer!

• OFF-RIVER closed loop pumped hydro dams solve this! They open up a VAST range of choice. Anywhere with a decent hill or cliff can be used. They’ve used Satellites to map the topology and the world has ample sites to choose from. America has 100 times, Australia has over 300 TIMES what we need! That means you can avoid mucking up any sensitive conservation or even tourist areas. They use a TENTH the water of coal fired thermal plants. We'll SAVE 90% of today's energy-water by switching to renewables.
• FAST BUILD TIMES! There's no pesky river to divert! You work on the upper reservoir, the lower reservoir, the tunnel connecting them and even the turbine room all at once! As a result they can be built in 2 years. When finished, build a pipe to the nearest river and pump the water in slowly. Cover with floating solar panels to reduce evaporation - and if you're lucky local rainfall might help top it up a bit.
• They’re CHEAP. First we reduce the storage required by over-building the wind and solar grid to cope with the worst winter week. Given solar is ¼ the cost of nuclear, this is economic. The final price for a 100% wind and solar and pumped-hydro storage is CHEAPER than we’re paying for electricity now – about $70 Mwh! For CLEAN power - without all those pollution health costs. For OUR power - without being tied to a global gas price or anything.
• Then you have the ultimate battery. It will never generate its own energy - and just uses the solar and wind to pump water uphill. It’s expensive up front, but because it will last over a century it's ultimately one of the cheapest grid batteries ever invented. And we’ve got over a century of experience using pumped hydro. This means there are no new inventions required for a 100% renewable grids.
• Australia’s largest pumped hydro site is Tumut 3. It has a head of 151 m. But the Blakers team investigated Australia’s PHES sites and confined the search to sites with a head of over 300 metres – so double the head means double the power and energy – but NOT double the costs! The tunnels are just a big longer. What did they find? Only 22,000 sites – where 20 to 40 (depending on size) would power the whole of Australia.
• The rest of this video goes on to explore the world’s off-river PHES sites. There’s plenty.

http://youtu.be/_Lk3elu3zf4?t=982

http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/2516-1083/abeb5b#prgeabeb5bs6

[Vmedvil]

15 hours ago, Eclipse Now said:

On-River PHES (Pumped Hydro Electricity Storage) IS already maxed out and the last best sites are all ecological hotspots and would disrupt river systems and fisheries. But there's an answer!

• OFF-RIVER closed loop pumped hydro dams solve this! They open up a VAST range of choice. Anywhere with a decent hill or cliff can be used. They’ve used Satellites to map the topology and the world has ample sites to choose from. America has 100 times, Australia has over 300 TIMES what we need! That means you can avoid mucking up any sensitive conservation or even tourist areas. They use a TENTH the water of coal fired thermal plants. We'll SAVE 90% of today's energy-water by switching to renewables.
• FAST BUILD TIMES! There's no pesky river to divert! You work on the upper reservoir, the lower reservoir, the tunnel connecting them and even the turbine room all at once! As a result they can be built in 2 years. When finished, build a pipe to the nearest river and pump the water in slowly. Cover with floating solar panels to reduce evaporation - and if you're lucky local rainfall might help top it up a bit.
• They’re CHEAP. First we reduce the storage required by over-building the wind and solar grid to cope with the worst winter week. Given solar is ¼ the cost of nuclear, this is economic. The final price for a 100% wind and solar and pumped-hydro storage is CHEAPER than we’re paying for electricity now – about $70 Mwh! For CLEAN power - without all those pollution health costs. For OUR power - without being tied to a global gas price or anything.
• Then you have the ultimate battery. It will never generate its own energy - and just uses the solar and wind to pump water uphill. It’s expensive up front, but because it will last over a century it's ultimately one of the cheapest grid batteries ever invented. And we’ve got over a century of experience using pumped hydro. This means there are no new inventions required for a 100% renewable grids.
• Australia’s largest pumped hydro site is Tumut 3. It has a head of 151 m. But the Blakers team investigated Australia’s PHES sites and confined the search to sites with a head of over 300 metres – so double the head means double the power and energy – but NOT double the costs! The tunnels are just a big longer. What did they find? Only 22,000 sites – where 20 to 40 (depending on size) would power the whole of Australia.
• The rest of this video goes on to explore the world’s off-river PHES sites. There’s plenty.

http://youtu.be/_Lk3elu3zf4?t=982

http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/2516-1083/abeb5b#prgeabeb5bs6

Interesting!