Nice electricity storage solution: pump water up hill

In this Forbes article (which I still get the magazine for free) by Jonathan Fahey, he talks about the perennial problem of renewable energy sources.  The problem whether it be wind or solar is how do you store it and provide it on a regular, nearly continuous basis?

The solution in this article is to pump water 1,200 feet up when a lot of electricity is being produced and then when it is needed, the pump would become a generator that produces up to 400 megawatts.  This would require building two lakes that each could hold 1.5 billion gallons of water.

There is a 20 percent frictional loss because you spend 5 kilowatt-hours to get 4 kilowatt-hours back.

Click here to read more about this.

To subscribe to Forbes, click here for 1 year or 2 years