Present status of pumped hydro storage operations to mitigate renewable energy fluctuations in Japan

Abstract

This paper focuses on pumped hydro energy storage (PHES) plants’ current operations after electricity system reforms and variable renewable energy (VRE) installations in Japan. PHES plants have historically been developed to create electricity demand at night in order to operate base load power plants, such as nuclear power plants, in stable conditions. Therefore, many PHES plants are located midway between nuclear power plants and large demand areas. However, all nuclear power plants had to - at least temporarily - shut down after the Great East Japan Earthquake followed by a nuclear accident at Fukushima Daiichi in 2011, and renewable energy power plants have been deployed rapidly after the introduction of a feed-in-tariff (FIT) scheme. Therefore, PHES plants are being used to mitigate fluctuations of VRE, especially in areas where renewable energy has been significantly installed. The daily highest capacity ratio of PHES plants in Kyushu area has recorded three times higher than it in the other areas where the past operating mode is still conducted. But those operations on PHES plants are simply followed as a dispatch rule of the Organization for Cross- regional Coordination of Transmission Operators (OCCTO), market-based operations have not been conducted enough yet. The market design shall be changed to harmonize VRE installation and PHES plants’ operations are necessary to make the transition from the past operating mode of PHES plants across Japan.