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.
Highlights
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
With the intention of eliminating competing projects and focusing on the best projects per region, the projects with the lowest costs for water storage (US$ m−3), long (US$ MWh−1) and short-term (US$ kW−1) energy storage, within a 1 arc degree resolution of the globe are presented. This consists of 1457 water storage projects with water storage costs lower than 0.2 US$ m−3 and 1092 energy storage projects with energy storage cost lower than 50 US$ MWh−1
Seasonal pumped hydropower storage (SPHS) plants built adjacent to main rivers can provide similar water management and energy storage services while avoiding the large land footprint associated with conventional hydropower dams
Summary
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. Global installed PHS electricity generation capacity is ~165 GW and constitutes the vast majority of electricity storage worldwide, of which 25 GW have been identified as mixed plants that are conventional reservoir-based hydropower dams[7]. SPHS plants have lower land requirements than conventional hydropower dams, for a comparable energy and water storage potential, because the off-river reservoir design permits higher hydraulic heads variations[14]. One recent study investigates the global potential for PHS and assumes the construction of two reservoirs in a closed loop for daily and weekly operation They found a global potential of 23 × 106 GWh in more than 600,000 plants, but the project sizes appear to be impractical or infeasible for seasonal storage or water storage and do not include detailed cost analysis or water availability[22,23] (Supplementary Table 2). Whilst we have considered a maximum of one SPHS per 1-degree grid square (100 × 100 km), in some locations a series of SPHS plants in cascade could further increase the energy storage potential
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