this post was submitted on 18 Jun 2024
568 points (98.8% liked)

World News

32514 readers
298 users here now

News from around the world!

Rules:

founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[โ€“] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago (1 children)

If we built 43 Hoover Dams, we wouldn't need to build any other renewables at all-- the Hoover Dam doesn't just store power, it also generates it. I'm not sure of the numbers for pure pumped storage hydropower systems (I don't think "pure" systems even exist, everywhere gets some rain), but we only need enough capacity to take over when the normal grid is underproducing.

[โ€“] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

To answer your actual question though, we need about 85 times our current pumped hydro capacity to transition to a fully renewable US. This seems daunting, but:

  • Pumped hydro is growing rapidly
  • It's not the only battery storage technology (heat batteries look promising imo)
  • Any increases in storage allow more renewables, less pollution, and overall contribute to making our future better

Pumped Hydro doesn't need to singlehandedly handle the storage load of the entire US because there are other options to use in conjunction with it and even a partial storage solution produces benefits. This is good, because Pumped Hydro is geographically limited.