An ambitious project by Salt River Project (SRP) suggests a future where the Arizona desert blooms with more than cacti—an immense new lake designed for pumped storage hydropower could be on the horizon. A report from 12Newsreveals that this additional lake, currently without a name, is expected to generate an impressive 2000 megawatts of power. To put that in perspective, it’s far beyond what the existing Salt River Lakes can muster collectively. Nestled between Roosevelt and Apache Lakes, this new addition could potentially power hundreds of thousands of homes.
The utility recently announced plans to reach net-zero carbon emissionsby 2050. To stay on track toward that goal, SRP says it will need to triple its renewable power output by 2035, and with that, its energy storage capacity.
SRP is considering two sites on federally owned land near Apache Lake to construct a new dam and flood a portion of the desert to create the upper reservoir in what would be Arizona’s largest pumped storage hydropower system.
Currently, SRP has a combined pumped storage hydropower capacity of 150 megawatts at two pumped storage facilities, Mormon Flat Dam and Horse Mesa Dam. The proposed new pumped storage system would have a 1,000 to 2,000 megawatt capacity.
It would be a monumental undertaking, but Hannoush said it makes more sense than investing only in utility scale batteries to meet the supplemental nighttime needs of SRP’s growing solar power portfolio.
“The benefit of pumped storage is we expect this to be a centurylong resource,” Hannoush said. “When you compare battery systems that are continuously being replaced, compared to a resource that’s going to last 100 years, there’s a real economic benefit to building a pumped storage facility.”
Not only that, but batteries last about four hours per charge. The proposed pumped storage system could generate enough energy to power about 450,000 homes for 10 hours each pump cycle.
That’s important for SRP, not just for sustainability goals, but for keeping up with soaring demand.
“If everything goes smoothly … “
Not so minor nitpick. It will not actually ‘generate’ any power. It is a storage, battery system that requires more power input than it provides output. Positive idea when circumstances are correct.
Umm … what???
It’s a hydropower system with a dam, a new lake, and actual generators making actual electricity. It is an alternative to a battery system, not a battery system, using solar electricity to pump water uphill. That it requires “more power input than it provides output” is a strange critique to my ears.
Are you trying to say that they should just be investing in more solar pv?
Pumped hydro—as opposed to traditional dams—is used as energy storage in the form of potential energy. With pumped hydro the source of the energy is a separate power plant. In the past we needed pumped hydro to shift overnight nuclear power to times of higher demand, since it was too costly to run NPPs only part of each day. In this case the power supply is solar arrays.
(Sorry, can’t seem to undo the erroneous downvote.)
“it will need to triple its renewable power output by 2035, and with that, [add maybe 30% to] its energy storage capacity.”
The more intelligently diverse renewable energy is intelligently built, the less storage will be needed.
It will need to be covered with PV to reduce evaporation & increase output. Friedensreich Hundertwasser
“It will need to be covered with PV to reduce evaporation….”
Property developers would have a hissy fit.
😉
Recreation will not be allowed on the new lake – its level will rise and fall by a hundred feet each day. Doubtful, it would seem, that property would be developed, or floating PV used, there.