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Small pumped-storage hydropower

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Small pumped-storage hydropower is the small-scale application of pumped-storage hydropower. Small pumped-storage hydropower plants can be built on streams and within infrastructures, such as drinking water networks and artificial snow making infrastructures. Such plants provide distributed energy storage and distributed flexible electricity production and can contribute to the decentralized integration of intermittent renewable energy technologies, such as wind power and photovoltaic.

Technology

Small hydropower plants, with an installed capacity varying between 1 MW and 50 MW,[1] can be built with storage capacities. Small storage hydropower plants have only an upstream reservoir, whereas small pumped-storage hydropower plants have both an upstream and downstream reservoir. The following reservoir options can be used for small pumped-storage hydropower plants[2]:

  • Artificial lakes (e.g., dammed stream for a small hydropower plant or for flood protection) and natural lakes (including future lakes following melting glaciers).
  • Reservoirs within infrastructures, such as artificial snow making, irrigation, or drinking water networks. New infrastructures are required due to climate change and could therefore be built as multipurpose infrastructures combined with electricity production.
  • Unused galleries (e.g., within the mining industry and former military bunkers and galleries).

The potential of small pumped-storage hydropower has been evaluated in the case of Switzerland by looking at existing and already planned reservoirs in order to reduce investment costs and opposition to projects. The total installed capacity of small pumped-storage hydropower plants in 2011 could be increased by 3 to 9 times by providing adequate policy instruments.[2]

See also

References

  1. ^ http://www.renewables-made-in-germany.com/de/start/wasserkraft/wasserkraft/rahmenbedingungen.html
  2. ^ a b Crettenand, N. (2012) "The facilitation of mini and small hydropower in Switzerland: shaping the institutional framework. With a particular focus on storage and pumped-storage schemes". Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL). PhD Thesis N° 5356. http://infoscience.epfl.ch/record/176337?ln=en
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