Cerran424
Cerran424 t1_ja4srkv wrote
Reply to comment by TheNatureBoy in How Much Land Would It Require To Get Most Of Our Electricity From Wind & Solar? by BlitzOrion
The water level question is more how much water can be recycled given the discharge requirements and flow downstream.
You would likely have to design the pumps to lift water to the maximum height of Lake Mead.
Cerran424 t1_ja4r5hm wrote
Reply to comment by TheNatureBoy in How Much Land Would It Require To Get Most Of Our Electricity From Wind & Solar? by BlitzOrion
It has a lot of technical hurdles to solve before it’s a viable project especially with the current drought situation at Lake Mead.
Cerran424 t1_ja4jhmh wrote
Reply to comment by pinkfootthegoose in How Much Land Would It Require To Get Most Of Our Electricity From Wind & Solar? by BlitzOrion
Can’t just stop letting it flow in most cases because of downstream consequences like irrigation and navigation.
Cerran424 t1_ja4jbb2 wrote
Reply to comment by TheNatureBoy in How Much Land Would It Require To Get Most Of Our Electricity From Wind & Solar? by BlitzOrion
As an engineer who has worked on several pumped storage projects the big challenge there is location. If you are going to pump water uphill you have to get it from somewhere. In drought stricken areas like CA that’s not super realistic. It’s also limited by geography and the capex costs are very high.
I’m currently working on a pumped storage system but it’s in rural Montana where water is plentiful and building restrictions aren’t as challenging and they still have issues with power wheeling agreements. Simply put pumped storage is far more complicated than most people realize.
Cerran424 t1_ja4svx9 wrote
Reply to comment by TheNatureBoy in How Much Land Would It Require To Get Most Of Our Electricity From Wind & Solar? by BlitzOrion
I’m mainly making an educated guess based on requirements of past projects.