The search for new technological solutions in the field of energy storage is essential – especially when one considers that every year the number of days when it becomes necessary to disconnect renewable energy installations from the grid increases. The use of pumped storage hydroelectric power plants for energy storage could be a solution. What does this consist of?
An example of this type of solution is a pumped storage plant installed on the Tâmega River in northern Portugal.
This power plant features a 230-ton metal cylinder that is capable of spinning at 600 revolutions per minute, thus driving a pump buried underground.
This installation is located between two water reservoirs. At the peak of the RES’s power production, the water is pumped upwards, and when the demand for energy increases it drops downwards, generating electricity anew.
Unfortunately, in Poland we still do not have a coherent strategy for the future of hydropower plants. It seems that their use for “energy storage” is also not being considered for the time being.