Batteries International, Issue 118. Winter 2020/21

Page 81

HYDROPOWER + BATTERIES Pumped hydro has been a long staple of the energy storage markets. It can harness spare generating capacity at all times of the day and provide power that can be tapped at the opening of a valve. But it is limited in what it can do. Moreover, the sector’s development has been stunted by neglect. A fresh look — using batteries — is offering unexpected benefits.

Making a bigger splash Although it has long been far out in front of the rest of the field when it comes to global energy storage capacity (with more than 94%), recent growth in the pumped storage hydropower (PSH) sector has stagnated, says the International Hydropower Association. A lack of policy and financial incentives for new developments, as well as environmental considerations, are to blame — and now, with two major initiatives, they are being addressed. “While significant amounts of variable renewables are placed on to grids and ageing thermal plants retire, pumped storage development remains almost stagnant,” says the Londonbased IHA. “Outside China, the world’s largest pumped storage producer, year-on-year installed capacity growth has been just 1.5% since 2014. “This has been due to a combination of factors, including a lack of under-

standing or awareness about PSH’s capabilities, complex permitting arrangements, and outdated market and regulatory frameworks that fail to provide appropriate incentives for development. Investment decisions are now needed urgently.” The increase of renewables such as wind and solar has been widely hailed as answering the need for less burning of fossil fuels, but their lack of inertia and volatility means they will never be the complete answer. Hydro, the oldest renewable energy resource, can fill that gap — but it needs to be updated in order to do so. “Hydro is an existing, proven, flexible technology but there has to be a focus on bringing it online to meet the needs of the evolving energy mix,” says David Samuel, senior hydropower sector analyst with the IHA. “By 2050 there will be a drastic emphasis on renewables and decarboni-

EU WATER FRAMEWORK DIRECTIVE AND HOW BATTERIES COME INTO PLAY In 2000 the European Union launched the Water Framework 2000/60/EC, which shows ‘how hydropower can be made to operate in accordance with the requirements of the Habitats and Birds Directives’. New projects must meet a raft of regulations such as river basin management, flood and water flow management to protect flora and fauna that can be affected by changing water levels, water temperature changes (which are often noticeable during peak discharge periods and which certain species cannot survive) and dams. This affects the levels of water permitted in reservoirs and how quickly the levels can be changed — and if batteries can take up the slack, this can be addressed,

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smoothing peaks and troughs without compromising power, says Andritz Hydro marketing director Jens Päutz. The Directive also says that modernizing existing plants is preferable to building new ones, and by combining batteries with old facilities this ticks that box too. Andritz is even hopeful that the technology could provide a home for second-life lithium batteries when they are no longer fit for EV use – once there is a market available, says Päutz. “For the time being there are no second-life batteries available but in the long term that could be an answer — you need a second market for the battery and long term this could be a potential one,” he says.

zation and there’s a real need to modernize the services that hydropower already provides and improve it even more.” Before the sector gets caught napping, the IHA and the US Department of Energy have launched two major initiatives to bring the technology up to date — an International Forum on Pumped Storage Hydropower and a raft of demo technologies all looking to innovate the world’s water batteries. Launch of international forum For the first time in the pumped storage hydropower sector an international forum has been launched, bringing 11 governments and 60 other organizations together to work out how to tap hydropower’s potential as a ‘clean, green battery’. Under the umbrella of the IHA and US Department of Energy, the governments of the US, Austria, Brazil, Estonia, Greece, India, Indonesia, Israel, Morocco, Norway and Switzerland gathered together this November with financial institutions, NGOs and energy companies to put PSH at the forefront of policies to cement the technology’s leading position in global storage and make sure it stays there. Energy companies involved include the likes of SSE, GE Renewable Energy and EDF; international funding banks include the World Bank, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and Asian Development Bank; and agencies include IRENA, the IEA, and GEIDCO — the Global Energy Interconnection Development and Cooperation Organization. In a wide-ranging programme to prepare for an ‘upsurge in pumped storage developments’ and also to improve existing capacity, the forum will spend 12 months exploring regulation/permit and investment barriers; sharing best practices; examining new market mechanisms; assessing differences between regions and opportunities; working out incentives to development; and learning from other sectors.

Batteries International • Winter 2020/21 • 79


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