Pumped energy storage construction headquarters

What is a pumped storage hydropower facility?

Pumped storage hydropower facilities use water and gravity to create and store renewable energy. Learn more about this energy storage technology and how it can help support the 100% clean energy grid the country—and the world—needs.

How does a pumped storage hydropower project work?

Pumped storage hydropower projects use electricity to store potential energy by moving water between an upper and lower reservoir. Using electricity from the grid to pump water from a lower elevation, PSH creates potential energy in the form of water stored at an upper elevation, which is why it is often referred to as a “water battery”.

How many pumped storage plants are there?

There are 43 PSH projects in the U.S.1 providing 22,878 megawatts (MW) of storage capacity2. Individual unit capacities at these projects range from 4.2 to 462 MW. Globally, there are approximately 270 pumped storage plants, representing a combined generating capacity of 161,000 (MW)3.

What is pumped storage hydropower (PSH)?

U.S. DOE (2018) “Global Energy Storage Database Projects.” Pumped storage hydropower (PSH) long has played an important role in America’s reliable electricity landscape. The first PSH plant in the U.S. was constructed nearly 100 years ago. Like many traditional hydropower projects, PSH provides the flexible storage inherent in reservoirs.

What percentage of US energy storage is pumped storage?

PSH provides 94% of the U.S.’s energy storage capacity and batteries and other technologies make-up the remaining 6%.(3) The 2016 DOE Hydropower Vision Report estimates a potential addition of 16.2 GW of pumped storage hydro by 2030 and another 19.3 GW by 2050, for a total installed base of 57.1 GW of domestic pumped storage.

How do pumped storage projects work?

The developers of the pumped storage project will study their site conditions, markets they will serve, economics and make equipment configurations selections from the aforementioned technologies. They will also make selections on the number of units and MW size.