Potential for conventional and underground pumped-storage

Future energy and power needs of the United should be supplied as economically as possible and also when the customer desires. Nuclear base sources plus hydroelectric pumped-storage for peaking provide two excellent means for attaining both purposes. Numerous sites and the necessary technology are available for pumped-storage development at cost between $240 and $320 per kilowatt. The low operating cost of pumped-storage provides a significant cost credit in comparative evaluations with other peaking plants. Pumped-storage use in the United States has been impeded by legal and other obstacles, but pumped-storage use should increase in the future. The purpose of this paper is to present a very brief review of the current state of pumped-storage, with a cataloging of its benefits and problems, and a brief summary of future potentialities. Pumped-storage is, of course, a source of power and energy for supplying peak loads. It serves other useful purposes additionally. In supplying such services, it is part of an electric power system that has a larger and more important purpose. These days there is strong evidence that the public is not fully conversant with that purpose. The public's viewpoint has delayed or prevented construction of several million kilowatts of pumped-storage and realization of its benefits. The potential for pumped-storage is directly related to the public's viewpoint.