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HYDRO REVIEW
A (Potentially) Bright Future for Pumped Storage in the U.S.
12/05/2014
Home Hydro Project Activity Pumped Storage Hydro A (Potentially)
Bright Future for
Pumped Storage in the U.S.
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Page 1 of 19Getting construction of pumped storage moving
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There is a lot of potential for pumped-storage development in
the U.S. What will it
take to get construction of this valuable generating resource
moving forward again?
By Elizabeth Ingram
There's no doubt that pumped-storage hydropower is a valuable
resource in the
U.S. These facilities are ideal to store energy from and balance
intermittent
renewables, such as wind and solar, providing stability and
flexibility to the
transmission grid. In fact, in 2012, data from EPRI indicates
pumped-storage
hydropower accounted for more than 99% of bulk storage capacity
worldwide, about
127,000 MW.
However, it's also an undeniable fact that there has been little
new development in
this field in the U.S. in the past two decades, which seems to
indicate the
atmosphere is not favorable for encouraging construction of
pumped-storage
facilities. But this may be about to change. There has been a
stirring of movement
lately, primarily on the regulatory side, with regard to
pumped-storage hydro in the
U.S.
This article analyzes the activity to date and provides some
insight into the
(potentially) bright future of this valuable generating
resource.
Background on pumped storage
My research indicates the first use of pumped-storage units in
the U.S. was in 1930
by Connecticut Electric and Power Co., pumping water from the
Houstatonic River.
This technology actually dates to much earlier outside the U.S.,
with pumped
storage first being installed in the 1890s in Italy and
Switzerland, according to EPRI.
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The heyday of this technology in the U.S. appears to be the
1960s and 1970s, with
facilities going on line in California, Colorado, Massachusetts,
Michigan, Missouri,
New York, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee and
Virginia. The
3,003-MW Bath County facility, which was completed in 1985 in
Virginia, is the
largest pumped-storage plant in terms of generating capacity in
the world.
It seems that the most recently completed pumped-storage project
in the U.S. is the
40-MW Lake Hodges plant, built by the San Diego County Water
Authority
(SDCWA) at the existing Olivenhain Reservoir and completed in
September 2012.
(For more on this project, see the sidebar on page 14.) However,
before that it had
been more than 15 years since such a project was completed, that
one being the
1,035-MW Rocky Mountain facility in Georgia, owned by Oglethorpe
Power Corp.,
which began operating in 1995.
According to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC),
there are a 24
operating pumped-storage projects under its jurisdiction, with a
total installed
capacity of about 16,500 MW. Only one of these projects was
authorized in the past
30 years.
The Energy Storage Association reports that the 40 total
pumped-storage facilities
operating in the U.S. provide more than 20,000 GW of capacity,
or nearly 2% of the
country's electrical supply system. While these numbers may
sound good, compare
the shares in Europe (nearly 5%) and Japan (about 10%). It is
clear we have a long
way to go in the U.S.
However, the number of pumped-storage projects in the U.S. looks
set to jump
considerably. FERC says there are about 50 active preliminary
permits for these
projects, representing more than 37,000 MW of capacity. And
while only a third of
the operating projects under FERC's jurisdiction are located
west of the Mississippi
River, more than 80% of the preliminary permits are located west
of the Mississippi,
where the majority of existing and proposed solar and wind
generation is located.
The majority of the recently proposed pumped-storage projects
would employ a
closed-loop system, FERC says. These projects are not
continuously connected to a
naturally flowing water feature. (At this time, only one of the
constructed projects
under FERC jurisdiction is closed loop.) In addition, many of
the proposed projects
would use variable-speed pump-turbines that would allow for more
flexible operation
than the current fleet.
What is behind the resurgent interest in pumped storage in the
U.S.? According to
Debbie Mursch, chair of NHA's Pumped Storage Development
Council, "Policy
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makers are finally realizing that we can't continue to increase
the amount of
intermittent generation while at the same time removing baseload
nuclear and coal
plants and not consider the need for grid-scale storage." The
council was
established to provide a platform for the industry to keep
abreast of the latest
developments in pumped storage, be it legislative, new
technology, policy or global
trends. The council also aims to educate policy-makers and the
public on the
benefits of pumped storage.
The two pump-turbines in the powerhouse of the 40-MW Lake
Hodges
pumped-storage project began operating in 2012. (Courtesy San
Diego County
Water Authority)
Perhaps the greatest quality of pumped storage is that it is the
only commercially
proven technology available for both grid-scale energy storage
and power
generation, Mursch says. Developing additional pumped storage,
particularly in
areas with recently increased wind and solar capacity, would
significantly improve
grid reliability while reducing the need for construction of
additional fossil-fueled
generation. Grid-scale storage also could reduce the amount of
new transmission
required to support many states' RPS goals, Mursch says.
Utilizing pumped-storage projects also allows utilities to
follow load and respond to
rapid changes in demand for power on the grid using a
non-emitting resources, as
opposed to fossil-fuel-fired units, Mursch says. This allows the
utilities to run their
fossil units more efficiently and reduces carbon emissions
output from these plants.
New development in the offing
There has been much recent activity through FERC with regard to
proposed new
pumped-storage facilities.
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For example, FERC authorized construction of the 400-MW Iowa
Hill pumped-
storage development as part of its August relicensing of the
637.3-MW Upper
American River project in California. Iowa Hill is to be an
off-stream plant that pumps
water from the existing Slab Creek Reservoir into the new Iowa
Hill Reservoir. The
powerhouse will contain three 133-MW pump-turbine units.
Many companies are involved in development of this project,
including AF-Consult
of Switzerland; AMEC in London; Ascent Environmental in
Sacramento, Calif.;
Carlton Engineering in Folsom, Calif.; Crux Subsurface in
Henderson, Nev.; Foxfire
Constructors in San Clemente, Calif.; GEI Consultants in Woburn,
Mass.; HDR
Engineering in Omaha, IEC Corporation in Sacramento; Jacobs
Associates in San
Francisco, Calif.; Northwest Hydraulic Consultants in Vancouver,
British Columbia,
Canada, and Stillwater Sciences in Berkeley, Calif.
In addition, FERC issued a license to the 1,300-MW Eagle
Mountain pumped-
storage project in June, authorizing Eagle Crest Energy to build
the project at the
site of an inactive iron mine in Riverside County, Calif. There
will be a head of 1,400
feet between the reservoirs, created by adding saddle dams and
liners to two
abandoned mining pits. GEI Consultants, a developing partner in
the project, says
Eagle Mountain will be an "integral component of California's
renewable energy
policies and its goals for reduction of greenhouse gas
emissions."
The primary environmental issues associated with the project are
effects of its
construction and operation on groundwater, water quality and
terrestrial species
(including several sensitive bat species, the desert bighorn
sheep and threatened
desert tortoise). Groundwater will be pumped from a series of
proposed wells in the
Chuckwalla Basin to fill the reservoirs and replace water lost
to evaporation.
With California seemingly at the epicenter of the interest in
pumped-storage
development, it's not surprising I am reporting on interest in
developing a third
project in the state. SDCWA is looking into adding a 500-MW
pumped-storage plant
near its San Vicente Dam following the closure of the 2,200-MW
San Onofre nuclear
power plant. SDCWA recently raised the dam, adding 152,000
acre-feet of water
storage capacity to the reservoir.
Another state where we're seeing interest in pumped storage is
Hawaii. In August,
Paniolo Power Co. LLC announced it planned to issue a request
for qualifications
seeking an engineering-procurement-construction contractor to
develop a pumped-
storage project on Parker Ranch. Capacity of this project could
range from 10 MW
to as much as 200 MW. The energy developer said pumped storage
would allow
wind and solar energy that otherwise would be curtailed to be
used to pump water
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that would then be released in the evening to meet peak loads
being served by
expensive oil-fired generation.
Also in Hawaii, the Kauai Island Utility Cooperative is pursuing
a pumped-storage
project to be located on state land on Kauai's west site. The
co-op has obtained
access to two potential sites that will allow it to conduct
technical studies.
Moving this development forward
FERC says good siting and consultation, as well as filing of a
complete application
that addresses stakeholder concerns, are key to expediting the
licensing process.
On its website, the commission has state-specific lists of
potential stakeholders to
consult as a starting point. Developers should also consult with
other site-specific
interested entities, FERC says. Early consultation with key
stakeholders on potential
environmental impacts and other concerns, in addition to
technical site evaluation,
will facilitate optimal site selection. Continued consultation
on study needs and
conduct of needed studies is essential, FERC adds. Should a
developer not agree
on a study after earnest negotiations with stakeholders, the
pre-filing dispute
resolution process should be used, rather than taking the chance
on an inadequate
application, which can delay the post-filing application
process.
FERC also encourages developers to contact commission staff
before filing a notice
of intent to file an application and a preliminary application
document to discuss
process selection and FERC resources that may be helpful to
them.
The Pumped Storage Development Council issued a whitepaper on
Challenges and
Opportunities for New Pumped Storage Development. This
whitepaper cites the
need for grid reliability in the U.S., provided by reliable,
affordable and grid-scale
energy storage: hydropower pumped storage. With the tremendous
growth of wind
and solar generation in the past decade, the grid is affected by
the variability of this
supply. The whitepaper also says that "current market structures
and regulatory
frameworks do not present an effective means of achieving this
goal." NHA's key
policy recommendations are:
Create market products that allow flexible resources to provide
services that
help meet electric grid requirements, including fast-responding
systems that
provide critical capacity during key energy need periods;
Level the policy playing field for pumped storage hydropower
with other
storage technologies to encourage the development and deployment
of all
energy storage technologies;
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Recognize the regional differences within the U.S. generation
portfolio and the
unique roles energy storage technologies play in different
regions;
Recognize the energy security role pumped storage hydropower
plays in the
domestic electric grid;
Establish an alternative, streamlined licensing process for
low-impact pumped
storage hydropower, such as off-channel or closed-loop
projects;
Improve integration of federal and state agencies into the early
stage licensing
processes for pumped storage hydro; and
Facilitate an energy market structure where transmission
providers benefit
from long-term agreements with energy storage facility
developers.
NHA says the barriers that prevent new pumped storage from being
developed are
slowly being recognized and reduced and/or removed. For example,
Mursch says,
there is a lack of markets to fairly compensate pumped storage
for the many
electrical benefits it brings to the grid. The U.S. Department
of Energy recently
provided funding to Argonne National Laboratory to
model/quantify these benefits.
Argonne is leading a team that is seeking to provide a
comprehensive study of the
technical and market operations, economics and value of
conventional hydro and
pumped-storage plants for power system operation, including
their role in
accommodating a larger share of variable renewable energy
sources.
Another example is the time it takes to get a project licensed
as compared with other
technologies. NHA says gas plants can be licensed in fewer than
two years, while
pumped storage may take five to six years. Many developers today
are considering
closed-loop systems because they are more environmentally benign
and FERC is
looking to reduce licensing time for these facilities to two
years, as mandated in the
Hydropower Regulatory Efficiency Act of 2013.
Conclusion
"I believe the time is now or never that new pumped-storage
plants will be built,"
Mursch says. With the need for grid-scale storage being greater
than ever and
barriers to development slowly being removed, pumped storage's
time has finally
come in the U.S., she says.
Even the U.S. Department of Energy is getting in on the act with
its Hydropower
Vision plan. As part of this plan, DOE will issue a report that
seeks to answer a
number of questions regarding the current state and future of
hydroelectric power in
the U.S., among these how pumped-storage projects factor into
America's energy
mix.
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***************
Pumped storage in Canada
The landscape for pumped-storage development in Canada is
different from that in
the U.S. because Canada still has significant untapped potential
for conventional
hydro development.
But, there has been some recent interest in bringing pumped
storage to Canada.
For example, Northland Power, based in Toronto, proposes a 00
million project,
called Marmora, that would use an abandoned open-pit mine to
provide a capacity
of 400 MW. The company would build a new upper reservoir for
this facility, and the
powerhouse would be equipped with Francis pump-turbine
units.
***************
A story of modern-day development
Development of the 40-MW Lake Hodges pumped-storage project
was
accomplished at a time when new projects of this type simply
were not being
brought on line in the U.S. So development of this facility was
both a challenge and
an achievement for the San Diego County Water Authority in
California, says Frank
Belock, deputy general manager.
Olivenhain Reservoir was impounded in 2003 as part of SDCWA's
Emergency
Storage Project to protect the region from severe water supply
shortages. Lake
Hodges sits 770 feet lower in elevation, leading SDCWA to decide
in 2002 to add
generating capability to the pumping station that was already
being designed. From
the time the pumped-storage component was included in the scope
of work until the
generating station was completed, 10 years elapsed, Belock
says.
The bottom line benefit in adding this pumped-storage component
was estimated to
be $2 million to $3 million in annual revenue from power
generation that could be
used to offset the cost of water supply and delivery. Belock
says the 0 million
pumped-storage plant was cash financed.
Thanks to the success of this project, SDCWA announced in July
2013 that it was
preparing to assess the potential to develop a larger
pumped-storage facility (up to
500 MW) at its San Vicente Reservoir. Construction of this
facility is anticipated to
take at least five years.
Elizabeth Ingram is managing editor of Hydro Review.
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