Storing hydroelectricity to meet peak-hour demand

This paper reports on pumped storage plants which have become an effective way for some utility companies that derive power from hydroelectric facilities to economically store baseload energy during off-peak hours for use during peak hourly demands. According to the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) in Palo Alto, Calif., 36 of these plants provide approximately 20 gigawatts, or about 3 percent of U.S. generating capacity. During peak-demand periods, utilities are often stretched beyond their capacity to provide power and must therefore purchase it from neighboring utilities. Building new baseload power plants, typically nuclear or coal-fired facilities that run 24 hours per day seven days a week, is expensive, about $1500 per kilowatt, according to Robert Schainker, program manager for energy storage at the EPRI. Schainker the that building peaking plants at $400 per kilowatt, which run a few hours a day on gas or oil fuel, is less costly than building baseload plants. Operating them, however, is more expensive because peaking plants are less efficient that baseload plants.