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Energy & Renewables vocabulary · Energy Storage

Pumped hydro storage

Meaning in energy & renewables, with examples

nounCommon term

In energy & renewables, pumped hydro storage means: Storing energy by pumping water up to a higher reservoir when electricity is cheap or plentiful, then releasing it through turbines to generate power when needed.

In Turkish: pompaj depolamalı hidroelektrik, pompaj depolama

How it is used

A mature technology used for decades, also called pumped storage or pumped-storage hydropower (PSH). Plants are sized in MW and in hours of storage. They need two reservoirs at different heights and take years to build, but they last for many decades.

Example sentences

  1. The pumped hydro storage plant pumps water uphill at midday, when solar power is cheap, and generates during the evening peak.

  2. Pumped hydro storage needs suitable geography, so only a few sites are possible.

Common collocations

  • pumped storage plant
  • upper reservoir
  • pumping mode
  • generating mode
  • energy storageTechnologies that capture energy when it is available and release it later when it is needed, such as batteries, pumped hydro and thermal storage.
  • hydropowerElectricity produced by water flowing through turbines, usually from a river or from a reservoir behind a dam. It is the oldest large-scale renewable power source.
  • damA large wall built across a river to hold back water and create a reservoir. In hydropower plants, the stored water flows through turbines to generate electricity.
  • round-trip efficiencyThe share of the energy put into a storage system that can be taken out again after losses in charging, storing and discharging, shown as a percentage.

More terms: Energy Storage

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