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points by PaulDavisThe1st 11 hours ago | 0 comments

I've read that globally almost all the places that can do pumped hydro "storage" already exist. I don't know if that's true, but if it is, then while this is a really cool technology, we won't be getting much further with it.

[–] vivaldi_bt 10 hours ago

AFAIK, it is not really true. But you need several things to do a pumped storage: a big source of water (and it better to not be a salt one), a place where a reservoir can be made and an elevation difference between them. So I'd assume that the most of the places that can be easily used to make a pumped storage already have one.

[–] PaulDavisThe1st 7 hours ago

Isn't that more or less precisely what I said?

[–] very-old-sw 10 hours ago

It's possible in the Catskills in New York State (USA) but a proposed project there was killed by the greens. Who also killed fracking in NYS and a power line from Quebec to Mass and closed a nuclear plant and ....

[–] _heimdall 3 hours ago

Local concerns in my area killed a project as well, though I can say I agreed with their concerns. The power company wanted to cut the top off of a mountain to build the reservoir and were likely going to force a small community to relocate entirely. Not the best solution IMO.

[–] Smoosh 7 hours ago

Interesting that “the greens” have so much power in a country which is very strongly two-party in its politics. Or did you mean “environmentalists”?