Global resource potential of seasonal pumped hydropower storage for energy and water storage

Hunt, J. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1840-7277, Byers, E. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0349-5742, Wada, Y. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4770-2539, Parkinson, S. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4753-5198, Gernaat, D.E.H.J., Langan, S. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0742-3658, van Vuuren, D.P., & Riahi, K. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7193-3498 (2020). Global resource potential of seasonal pumped hydropower storage for energy and water storage. Nature Communications 11 (1) e947. 10.1038/s41467-020-14555-y.

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Abstract

Seasonal mismatches between electricity supply and demand is increasing due to expanded use of wind, solar and hydropower resources, which in turn raises the interest on low-cost seasonal energy storage options. Seasonal pumped hydropower storage (SPHS) can provide long-term energy storage at a relatively low-cost and co-benefits in the form of freshwater storage capacity. We present the first estimate of the global assessment of SPHS potential, using a novel plant-siting methodology based on high-resolution topographical and hydrological data. Here we show that SPHS costs vary from 0.007 to 0.2 US$ m−1 of water stored, 1.8 to 50 US$ MWh−1 of energy stored and 370 to 600 US$ kW−1 of installed power generation. This potential is unevenly distributed with mountainous regions demonstrating significantly more potential. The estimated world energy storage capacity below a cost of 50 US$ MWh−1 is 17.3 PWh, approximately 79% of the world electricity consumption in 2017.

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