Closed-loop pumped storage hydro 'smallest emitter' among rival technolgies: study - Recharge

Closed-loop pumped storage hydro 'smallest emitter' among rival technolgies: study | Recharge

Closed-loop pumped storage hydropower systems rank as having the lowest potential to add to the problem of global warming for energy storage when accounting for the full impacts of materials and construction, according to a new US Department of Energy (DoE) analysis.

These systems rely on water flowing between two reservoirs – upper and lower - to generate and store power.

Those findings in a paper written by scientists at DoE’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) provide previously unknown insight into how closed-loop pumped storage hydropower—which is not connected to an outside body of water—compares to other grid-scale storage technologies.