Pumped-storage hydroelectricity

Abstract

World-wide efforts to reduce emissions of climate gasses have led many countries to pursue a policy of increasing the share of renewable energy in order to move away from a carbon-based generation of electricity. Renewables, like wind power, solar and small-scale hydro power, are intermittent and uncontrollable and therefore needs other generating technologies to undertake the necessary adjustment of supply in order to keep the continuous balance between demand and supply (see Chapter 7). A crucial question is the ability to store intermittent energy. There are several technical options, like batteries, compressed air, producing hydrogen and heat.