PUMPED STORAGE HYDROPOWER (PSH)

Transcription

1 PUMPED STORAGE HYDROPOWER (PSH) Swan Lake North project NEBC Future Energy Conference April 22, 2014 PSH: A REGIONAL-SCALE SOLUTION PSH is designed to handle Regional-Scale management of energy Balancing large load deviations or generation swings (e.g. wind energy) Providing alternative generation source during large base load plant forced outages (e.g. coal or nuclear plant) Mitigation of market price impacts due to over supply of generation (e.g. high wind and high water creating negative prices) Longer duration of storage (600 MW/hr x 9 hours = 5400 MWh/day) Siting location is important for achieving correct topography/geology and market access Batteries by comparison handle Distribution- Scale energy issues well Bolstering of potentially islanded sections of distribution grid Reduction in transmitted losses of energy from distributed generation sources (e.g. roof top solar) Short-term duration of storage (25 MW/hr x 4 hours = 100 MWh/day) Siting location is less important, and sites can be more broadly spread around PSH can have 54x the amount of storage duration of batteries 1

2 PSH IS PROLIFIC Source: Hydro Review WHY NO PSH IN THE LAST 20 YEARS? Energy generation history 1970 s was dominated by coal thermal and nuclear facilities 1980 s was dominated by coal thermal (post-3 Mile Island) 1990 s and on has been gas thermal Nuclear and coal thermal facilities complimented PSH They have expensive upfront capital costs, but low operating costs Generally, they are engineered and required to run 24 hours a day Surplus off-peak generation could be stored and moved to onpeak periods for consumption Massive natural gas finds in 1990 s in Canada Led to many intercontinental gas pipelines being built Market price for gas fell to about $1/Dth (today s market is about $4.50/Dth with the fracking revolution) Gas thermal generation was more flexible and output could be turned down or off in off-peak hours Today s new generation is predominantly renewable in the West Large wind farms (and solar stations) have expensive upfront capital costs, and run 24 hours a day (or about 12 hours for solar) when the natural resource is available to power them Does this sound familiar? Lake Hodges Reservoir in San Diego County 40 MW of PSH, new facility, unique location 2

3 OLD TOOL, NEW PROBLEM Renewables are on the rise Driven by State RPS mandates Wind and solar bring intermittent energy generation and create significant gaps in supply at times of load demand Gas thermal generators are historically split into two worlds Peakers (flexible and expensive to operate, run occasionally) typically SSCTs Base Load (less flexible and more cost effective, run regularly) typically CCCTs New need creates challenges for gas thermal generators Must be very flexible, run regularly, and be cost effective This hybrid exists, but is more expensive to operate than either Peakers or Base Load gas thermal generators PSH provides a competitive highly flexible resource With the advantage that it can store energy and move it to a time when it is most needed (an energy time machine) Operational flexibility is very similar to or better than traditional hydropower projects such as the Bonneville Dam No fish or other river-system environmental impacts due to closed loop system Supports greater penetration of new renewable energy facilities HOW INTERMITTENT IS WIND ENERGY? 3

4 OVER GENERATION & CURTAILMENT: NO WHERE FOR ENERGY TO GO SWAN LAKE PROJECT OVERVIEW Location: Approximately 11 miles NE of Klamath Falls, Oregon Project Area: 837 Acres Private and BLM Property Water Availability: Leased groundwater rights, preliminary OWRD approval Transmission Access South of Malin; near COB; PacifiCorp and CAISO Total Capacity: 600MW Project Head: 1,265 feet Hybrid Penstock Design Upper half of penstock above ground Lower half of penstock below grade EDF-CIH approved preliminary design Below-Grade Power House and Substation Closed-Loop System New upper and lower reservoirs No impact to existing water ways Initial fill and evaporation make up from existing ground water wells Source: WECC, Principal Transmission Lines 4

5 CONTACT Joe Eberhardt Director Hydropower, West Portland, OR 5