Energy shift creates opening for 'world's largest batteries'
A question is hovering over the transition from fossil fuels to cleaner energy such as wind and solar: What happens when the wind doesn't blow or the sun doesn't shine
20 April 2022, 01:59
7 min read
Share to FacebookShare to TwitterEmail this articleThere are 43 'Pumped Storage Plants' in the U.S., accounting for 95% of the nation’s utility-scale energy storage.
LUDINGTON, Mich. -- Sprawled like a gigantic swimming pool atop a bluff overlooking Lake Michigan is an asphalt-and-clay pond holding enough water to produce electricity for 1.6 million households.
It's part of the Ludington Pumped Storage Plant, which uses simple technology: Water is piped from a lower reservoir — the lake, in this case — to an upper one, then released downhill through supersized turbines.
Supporters call these systems “the world's largest batteries" because they hold vast amounts of potential energy for use when needed for the power grid.
The hydropower industry considers pumped storage the best answer to a question hovering over the transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy to address climate change: where to get power when the sun isn't shining or the wind isn't blowing.
“I wish we could build 10 more of these. I love 'em," Eric Gustad, community affairs manager for Consumers Energy, said during a tour of the Ludington facility.
But the utility based in Jackson, Michigan, has no such plans. Environmental and logistical challenges and potential costs in the billions led Consumers to sell another would-be site near the lake years ago. It's now upgrading the existing plant with co-owner DTE Energy.
Constructing a new one “doesn't make financial sense," Gustad said. “Unless we get some help from the state or federal government, I don't see it happening any time soon."
STUCK IN NEUTRAL
The company's decision illustrates the challenges facing pumped storage in the U.S., where these systems account for about 93% of utility-scale energy in reserve. While analysts foresee soaring demand for power storage, the industry's growth has lagged.
The nation has 43 pumped storage facilities with a combined capacity of 22 gigawatts, the output of that many nuclear plants. Yet just one small operation has been added since 1995 — and it's unknown how many of more than 90 planned can overcome economic, regulatory and logistical barriers that force long delays.
Three projects have obtained licenses from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, but none are being built. Developers of a long-planned Oregon facility expect work to begin in 2023. A Montana company that got a license five years ago needs a utility to operate the plant and buy its storage capacity before construction starts.
By contrast, more than 60 are being built worldwide, mostly in Europe, India, China and Japan.
“The permitting process is crazy,” Malcolm Woolf, president of the National Hydropower Association, complained during a January hearing of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, saying it involves too many agencies.
Although FERC permits new facilities and relicenses existing ones, other federal, state and tribal offices have roles, spokesperson Celeste Miller said. “Every project is unique. All have various case-specific issues,” she said.
The industry is lobbying for an investment tax credit similar to what solar and wind get. President Joe Biden’s Build Back Better plan includes the tax break but is stuck in Congress.
Pumped storage dates from the early 1930s. But most systems were built decades later to warehouse excess electricity from nuclear plants and release it when needed.
The storage facilities also serve as a safety net in sudden power interruptions. When a New England nuclear unit tripped offline in 2020, Woolf said, “the lights in Boston didn't flicker” because two pumped storage stations provided backup power.
While nuclear, coal and natural gas plants can operate continuously, wind and solar can't — so the market for reserve power likely will grow. National Renewable Energy Laboratory models show U.S. storage capacity may rise fivefold by 2050.
“We’re going to bring hundreds of gigawatts of clean energy onto the grid over the next few years and we need to be able to use that energy wherever and whenever it’s needed,” Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said last year.
LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION
