Do you Want to Build Really Big Grid Storage? Pump Water Uphill!

Mother nature is no problem for water batteries. Renewable energy is crucial for a clean energy future, but sometimes, mother nature makes it challenging. Water batteries can fill energy gaps on cloudy and still days, making sure clean energy is still reliable energy. 

In the United States, pumped storage hydropower can store up to 553 gigawatt-hours of energy. That could power video gaming across the entire country for about a week. Every year, American video gamers use about as much energy as 85 million refrigerators or 5 million cars. 

Pumped storage is the most efficient large energy storage system currently available—clocking in at 70-80%! Because it takes energy to store energy, no storage system—not even typical batteries—is 100% efficient. Pumping water into a water battery’s top reservoir requires a burst of energy. Still, a good 80% of what goes up, comes back down. 

Hydropower and pumped-storage facilities provide 40% of the power needed to jumpstart a grid after a blackout. Ice storms, wildfires, and even hackers could stop the electric grid from powering our homes and offices. When emergencies knock out other energy sources, water batteries can turn on fast to keep people safe and comfortable. 

Natural disasters are no match for hydropower and pumped storage’s flood control and irrigation benefits! Water batteries can save you from those, too—they help absorb that extra water and use it to power your home (or help put out those wildfires that can harm the grid). The pools of water can also give clean water to crops, and you, too, making sure you don’t go thirsty during a heatwave. 

The US pumped storage hydropower grew without any new construction. How does that work? Through “capacity increases” or upgrades to facilities that make them more powerful. From 2010 to 2019, upgrades at just six pumped storage facilities led to a 1,400 MW in capacity increase for the U.S. pumped storage. That means that within the capacity of U.S. pumped storage—without any new construction—pumped storage grew by almost as much as all other types of energy storage combined. 

Water batteries are 90 years old. The first U.S. water battery—dubbed the 10-mile storage battery—popped up in Connecticut in 1930. Almost a century later, water batteries still provide energy at a low price.