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A study by the Australian National University says long-duration pumped hydropower at off-river sites, combined with batteries, can meet the worlds energy storage needs. A new paper co-authored by Professor Andrew Blakers from the Australian National University looks at how long-duration pumped hydroelectric plants (PHES) could provide 95% of the world’s energy storage for the electricity industry, with the storage capacity of 2 trillion electric vehicle batteries. These systems could be a game-changer for global energy storage needs if combined with batteries. Blakers noted in a recent LinkedIn post that PHES systems last more than 100 years, require no new dams on rivers, have minimal land and water requirements and involve little mining. “PHES has a much lower capital cost than batteries (which are best for short-term storage). Together, PHES and batteries solve energy storage,” says Blakers. The article “ Pumped hydro energy storage to support 100% renewable energy”, recently published in IOP Science , analyses the global PHES atlases developed by the Australian National University. These atlases identify 0.8 million non-river (closed-loop) PHES sites with a combined storage potential of 86 million GWh, equivalent to about three years of current global electricity production. According to the researchers, “long-duration energy storage is necessary to support future solar-dominated energy systems. On a global scale, and for most regions, the PHES resource is two orders of magnitude larger than the likely future storage needs of the affluent, “electrified” and decarbonized population. This means that energy planners can deploy large-scale solar and wind projects with the confidence of knowing that at least one very credible storage solution exists.” The non-fluvial PHES sites identified in the Global PHES Atlas do not require costly measures to cope with large floods or the need to dam additional rivers. These attributes mean that cost estimates and insights developed for riverine hydropower systems are not typically applicable to premium non-riverine PHES systems, the researchers say. |
