PSHAUM: Innovative Energy Storage Technology

Project Overview

Title: Pumped-Storage Hydropower using Abandoned Underground Mines (PSHAUM) as an Innovative Energy Storage Technology for Fossil-Integrated Systems.

Despite exponential growth in utility-scale battery storage in recent years to approximately 1 gigawatt operating capacity, pumped-storage hydropower (PSH) still accounts for around 95% of all utility-scale storage in the U.S. and globally. PSH is a proven, cost-effective technology that is poised for massive expansion throughout the U.S. if the “ΔH challenge” can be solved. The ΔH challenge refers to achieving a suitable difference in hydraulic head height between the upper and lower reservoirs in a PSH system to enable hundreds of megawatts of electricity generation power by turbines located at the lower reservoir. To date, PSH deployment has been constrained to locations for which natural topography provides suitable elevation relief between the upper and lower reservoirs. This project aims to solve the ΔH challenge and facilitate the commercialization of a game-changing energy storage technology termed PSHAUM—Pumped-Storage Hydropower using Abandoned Underground Mines.