> Of course, it would make sense to integrate water and wind plants, probably even using the wind >turbines to power the pumps directly. But that's a problem with politics, not technology.
I beg to differ. The obvious problem is geography. Pump storage is highly used in Switzerland, and they have moutainous terrain and have hydroelectric dams which are perfect for combined generation/pump storage. But, most good windfarm locations are offshore or on the plains (e.g. Iowa or the Panhandle of TX) where high winds blow. The energy from a wind turbine is porportional to the cube of the velocity of the wind. Yes, there is high wind on ridge lines, but I've seen windmills there, and there is just one line, not row after row. So, pump storage needs to be located in very specific geographical locations (wherever there is a quick change in elevation from one large area to another....mountaintops aren't good because you can't put a big lake there), while the flat plains and the oceans, seas, and the Great Lakes are the best place to locate wind turbines. If it were easy, the German company that already has 10% of its nameplate capacity in wind would be doing water storage already. Dan M. _______________________________________________ http://box535.bluehost.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
