We still have plent of good locations left for pumped storage. The US has around 20 GW of existing pumped storage. Permits have already been granted for an additional 37 GW, more than doubling existing capacity. Compared to other industrial nations the US has low amounts of pumped storage. The US has 2% of generation, Europe 5%, and Japan 10%. However the US has problems with licensing, regulation, market structures, etc that make deployment of pumped hydro problematic.KaiserJeep wrote:It seems to me that large scale energy storage is another of those obsolete ideas. We don't know any good way of doing so, aside from pumped storage associated with hydropower facilities, and all the really good hydropower has already been built.
A (Potentially) Bright Future for Pumped Storage in the U.S.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 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.
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.
It seems to me this approach would be more expensive than going with large central power plants. You get a lot of economy of scale advantages by going with a central grid style approach.KaiserJeep wrote:I believe distributed wind and solar are a better answer. We abandon a business model that requires large central power plants and a power grid, in favor of distributed power generation and distributed power storage. You can easily power a single family residence with $10,000 in solar panels or a wind turbine, and a Powerwall battery increases that tab another 50%. After that, no monthly power bills for 20-30 years. When we do this, we give each and every homeowner a very good reason to conserve energy, a motive he feels in his pocketbook.
What Does Solar Electricity Cost?According to GTM Research the average residential household in the U.S. installs a 5 kWh system and during Q2 2016, it cost about $3.00 per DC watt or $15,000 (5000 times $3.00) before incentives. Utilities on the other hand typically install systems in the 100 mega-watt or greater range. The installed fixed utility system cost during Q2 2016 in the U.S. was $1.25 per watt (average) and is expected to gradually drop to under $1.00 by 2020
Avg. US Installed Capital Costs - Q2 2016 (GTM) Cost Per Watt (DC)
Residential Rooftop $3.00
Large Commercial $1.88
Utility Scale (Fixed) $1.25
I think there are better ways to encourage conservation of energy than forcing every resident to become a power producer. A tax on energy, more stringent building codes, delayed appliance usage, in home electricity meters that tell you your current electricity consumption, current electricity rates, current electricity bill, etc.