Major power firm EnergyAustralia is studying the feasibility of building a huge pumped hydroelectric energy storage project in the Spencer Gulf of South Australia.
The cost of lithium-ion batteries for energy storage declined 65% in five years between 2010 and 2015, while battery storage’s use for electricity could hit 250GW by 2030, from just 1GW today, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA).
US-based power firm Duke Energy plans to increase the energy storage capacity of its Bad Creek pumped storage hydroelectric station by 200MW between the years 2021 and 2024.
The organisers of luxury sporting estate Eishken are planning to install 300MW of pumped hydro storage (PSH) on the Scottish Isle of Lewis to store energy primarily from wind farms on the island.
A 1,050MW hydroelectric pumped storage facility in Germany will receive an upgrade of its synchronous generators from engineering specialist Alstom.
Chilean authorities have received plans for an ambitious 600MW PV plant project which could be connected to a 300MW pumped hydro energy storage plant, from developer Valhalla Energy.
The developing economies of the world are largely located in geographical regions that have abundant renewable energy resources, be they solar, wind, hydro or in some cases geothermal, yet paradoxically at the individual and rural community level, access to energy is often a very real issue. Establishing a continuous chain of temperature controlled cold environments from the point of harvest to the marketplace and on into the home, a ‘cold chain’, is what is required in order to avoid produce spoilage and to connect farmers with higher value market options in distant urban centres or overseas.
