09-13-2016, 04:48 AM
Pumped storage is an extremely valuable method of managing load and is done in multiple places on the Mainland. Unfortunately, it doesn't appear to be a cost-effective option here: our geology would make it extremely expensive to attempt because of the porous nature of our rocks. On the mainland, where you have sediment-filled basins, storage of water isn't much of a challenge. Here, any storage you chose to develop would require quite a bit of engineering, excavation costs would likely be 10X those in sediments, and the reservoir would have to be lined with an impermeable surface - likely costing many times, on an equivalent volume basis, what mainland storage reservoirs would cost (and that doesn't even address the environmental and regulatory costs of getting something like that built...).
It is unfortunate that the power company can't accept more solar and wind - but the reality is that both are extremely inefficient sources without some means of buffering the supply to the load.
And yes, it would be great if we had cheap, efficient storage, but we don't. And claiming that we can run our economy on solar and wind is magical thinking at its worst...
It is unfortunate that the power company can't accept more solar and wind - but the reality is that both are extremely inefficient sources without some means of buffering the supply to the load.
And yes, it would be great if we had cheap, efficient storage, but we don't. And claiming that we can run our economy on solar and wind is magical thinking at its worst...