To cut American greenhouse gas emissions in half within a decade, the Biden administration’s goal, USA is going to need a lot more solar and wind power generation, and lots of cheap energy storage.
Wind and solar power vary over the course of a day, so energy storage is essential to provide a continuous flow of electricity. However, today’s batteries are typically quite small and store enough energy for only a few hours of electricity. To rely more on wind and solar power, we will need more overnight and longer-term storage.
While battery innovations get a lot of attention, there’s a simple, proven long-term storage technique that’s been used in USA since the 1920s.
It’s called pumped hydro energy storage. It involves pumping water uphill from one reservoir to another at a higher elevation for storage, then, when power is needed, releasing the water to flow downhill through turbines, generating electricity on its way to the lower reservoir.
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