A proposed 2,650MW pumped hydro energy storage project in Washington State has received a preliminary permit from the US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC).

Two startups seeking to disrupt the energy sector with novel long-duration energy storage technologies have formed partnerships with established industry players.

Battery storage is flexible, remarkable — and investable — but you need to know what you’re doing and know where the market opportunities and limits lie. Renewable and clean energy financier Laurent Segalen from Megawatt-X explains some of the things he’s seen as batteries have become an infrastructure asset in their own right.

The state government of Queensland, Australia, has committed to a AU$14 million (US$10.5 million) project to refurbish and modernise a 570MW pumped storage hydroelectric plant.

UK power generation company Drax has announced plans for a new underground pumped hydro storage power station, and will seek planning permission to expand its Cruachan site in Scotland to 1.04GW.

California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) has approved a 11.5GW procurement of electricity capacity from greenhouse gas-free sources, while also approving a resolution that campaigners said will have severe negative impacts on the state’s residential solar and solar-plus-storage growth.

Eagle Mountain is a large-scale pumped hydro energy storage project under development in California. It’s a win-win project, argues Jeff Harvey, a consultant with over 35 years experience in California and senior environmental scientist for developer NextEra Energy Resources.

For over 100 years, pumped-storage hydroelectric power (pumped hydro) has supported electricity consumption around the world. Here are just a few recent projects that Energy-Storage.news has come across — from projects at their earlier stages of development to those that are nearing shovel-ready status.

This edition of our news in brief from around the world focuses on novel technologies promising several hours or more of competitively-priced energy storage.

Australian renewable energy developer Genex Power has achieved financial close on what looks likely to be the country’s first new pumped hydro energy storage (PHES) plant in nearly 40 years.