Hydroelectric Pumped Storage Projects Increase in North America

---

Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Permitting applications for hydroelectric pumped storage projects have increased in recent years, according to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) (Washington, D.C.), as a result of the agency's recent approval of a pilot project to test a two-year licensing process. The Hydropower Regulatory Efficiency Act of 2013 directed the federal agency to investigate the feasibility of a two-year licensing process in order to streamline the permitting process.

Currently, the FERC has issued preliminary permits for 34,033 megawatts of hydro pumped storage projects in 15 states, and another 2,150 megawatts of pending preliminary permits in three states are expected to be filed.

IIR is tracking 41 hydro-pumped storage projects in North America with a total investment value of nearly $39 billion. Those regions with the most projects include: the West Coast, with 13 projects worth $16 billion; the Rocky Mountains, with 13 projects worth $12 billion; and the Southeast, with six projects worth nearly $4 billion.

The 500-megawatt grassroot San Vicente Hydro Pumped-Storage Project at the Lakeside, California has a total investment value of $1.1 billion. The San Diego County Water Authority is working with Navigant Consulting (NYSE:NCI) (Chicago, Illinois) on the site study for the project. Kickoff is scheduled for third-quarter 2019, with completion in third-quarter 2023.

Another recent study by the U.S. Department of Energy and the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (Washington, D.C), concluded that hydro-pumped storage could provide a significant amount of operating reserves to the power grid; enable larger amounts of variable renewable generation in the system to balance other renewables such as wind and solar; reduce cycling of thermal generation units and associated greenhouse gas emissions; provide flexibility and operating reserves; and the reduce of grid transmission congestion.

Currently, hydro-pumped storage projects are constrained by lengthy environmental permitting regulations, which can take as much as 10 years to complete, as well as economic and financing challenges because of the large investments that are needed to construct these types of projects.

Hydro-pumped storage generation has for decades been providing grid scale energy storage at affordable prices and at this time stands alone as the only commercially proven technology available to do this. The growth in renewable energy could reach as much as 25% of U.S. electrical generation by 2030 and pumped storage projects could be the answer to the intermittent swings that this type of electrical production could cause to the grid.