Latest news with #pumpedhydro
CBC
2 days ago
- Business
- CBC
Mining, energy companies say hydro storage project could be template for N.S. mines
Halifax councillors have heard new details about a proposed hydro energy storage project at a former gold mine in the municipality. Representatives from Australia-based St Barbara Mining and Natural Forces, a Halifax-based renewable energy company, spoke to the Halifax Regional Municipality's environment and sustainability committee on Thursday. The two groups hope to use St Barbara's former Touquoy mining pit in Moose River, N.S., near Middle Musquodoboit for a closed-loop pumped hydro energy storage project. "Quite honestly, the history of mine reclamation of the province of Nova Scotia hasn't always been a great story, and we want to change that," Dustin O'Leary, St Barbara Atlantic spokesperson, said in an interview outside the meeting. Mining operations at Touquoy stopped in 2023, and St Barbara said last year it was conducting a feasibility study with Natural Forces on the hydro storage project. Tess Donahue, project manager with Natural Forces, said the pumped hydro system would be the first of its kind in Nova Scotia and could last between 50 to 100 years. It would use two reservoirs at different elevations, with pipes running between them. The current administrative complex of the Touquoy site would be turned into an upper reservoir, she said, with the former mining pit becoming the lower one. Renewable energy, like from wind farms, would come into the system and be used to pump water from the lower reservoir to the upper one where it would be stored. When that power is needed, the water would be pumped back down to the lower level and generate electricity for the grid. Donahue said the 80-megawatt system could produce energy for about 6.5 hours, resulting in about 513 megawatt hours of electricity. Nova Scotia Power has promised to have 80 per cent of the grid powered by renewable energy like wind, hydro and solar by 2030. Donahue said the utility will need places to store electricity, so the grid can be reliable when winds aren't blowing or the sun isn't shining. "If there was a long period of high demand, then it could support the grid for longer than a battery could," Donahue said. It is considered a closed-loop system because the reservoirs are only connected to each other, Donahue said, and fed solely by rain and groundwater. O'Leary said this would be the first pumped hydro storage system for St Barbara in any of their mines, which operate in various countries. "It doesn't have to just be St Barbara, either, it can be other mines," O'Leary said. "They're all creating a pit that could be used as an area to store power. So it's got a lot of potential." Coun. Sam Austin said the project seems like a good idea because it can be hard to "encourage, sometimes, good behaviour" in mining companies tending to their leftover sites. "If the site continues to actually have an economic rationale for being, I think that probably aligns a lot of interest in the right kind of direction," Austin said during the meeting. The committee voted to ask regional council to request a staff report that would consider sending a letter of support for the project to the province. "It's not a requirement, but I think it's a nice add-on to their work," said Coun. Cathy Deagle Gammon. Ongoing court case Atlantic Mining Nova Scotia, the St Barbara subsidiary that ran the mine, is in a legal fight with the province over the terms and conditions for the remediation of the Touquoy site. The Supreme Court of Nova Scotia is currently hearing the case, with the next date set for November. The Ecology Action Centre and Mining Association of Nova Scotia are intervenors in the matter. The court case doesn't change St Barbara's intention to reclaim the site and return it to a natural state as required, O'Leary said. He said the company has spent $10 million to date on cleanup costs. O'Leary said they are reviewing the regulations around the hydro storage project, and plan to start environmental studies soon. Their team hopes to get provincial approval to begin within the next few years, O'Leary said.
Japan Times
20-05-2025
- Business
- Japan Times
The U.K.'s clean power future relies on a 100-year-old technology
Hidden amongst the picturesque lakes and mountains of North Wales lies Europe's largest battery. For years, water has rushed through Dinorwig's subterranean tunnels to drive vast power turbines, but the channels currently lie empty — for the first time in four decades. They've been drained for a £1 billion ($1.3 billion) refurbishment to extend the life of the plant along with a Welsh sister project in Ffestiniog, both vital to the U.K. grid. Their pumped-hydro technology is more than a century old, but at the moment is virtually the only way of storing electricity for longer than a few hours. It also provides crucial kinetic energy to the network, keeping the frequency stable. Hydro storage is a key partner to renewables generation in Britain's Clean Power 2030 plan, and the country needs more of it. "The site is really crucial to the U.K.'s renewable rollout,'' said Miya Paolucci, U.K. chief executive at Engie, the utility that owns the site. "Refurbishing our existing plant should be a no-brainer.'' The turbine hall at Europe's largest and fastest-acting pumped storage station, which opened in 1984. | bloomberg The technology — largely based on gravity — is fairly simple: Water is pumped from a lower reservoir to a higher basin when energy is cheap and plentiful; then when power is lacking, it's released back down and turns a turbine. That flexibility allows the operator to fill gaps in supply when the wind doesn't blow or the sun doesn't shine. At Dinorwig, there is a 500-meter drop through the rock where the water comes smashing down to generate power. Some parts of the tunnels are big enough to fit a house inside. The U.K. has about 3 gigawatts of long-duration energy storage and almost all of that is pumped hydro, according to data from the national system operator. To achieve a clean grid by the end of the decade, it says as much as 8 gigawatts will be needed. Dinorwig alone can generate 1.7 gigawatts. Although the technology isn't hugely complicated, no new projects have been built for decades due to the high upfront cost and the lack of financial incentives provided by the government, which instead has channeled support toward solar and wind. Pumped-hydro plants also only make sense in specific geographies — often mountainous areas where water can be pumped between high and low reservoirs. A worker during the refurbishment. The site is currently drained down – a rare occurrence that happens every 40 years. | bloomberg Industry regulator Ofgem hopes to spur new projects by opening a so-called cap-and-floor funding program, which guarantees minimum revenues for developers and is due to kick in next year. "The starting pistol has been fired,' Kate Gilmartin, CEO of the British Hydropower Association, said in an interview. While the cap-and-floor details are yet to be determined, pumped hydro in Britain is "absolutely crucial, we need to have it online.' The economics don't work for everyone. Drax Group put a pumped-hydro expansion plan on ice earlier this year, citing rising costs and uncertainty over the returns. Scotland's SSE is pursuing a 1.3-gigawatt project, but it's yet to begin construction or secure all the necessary investment. The outline of the cap-and-floor mechanism right now doesn't make Coire Glas investible yet, an SSE spokesperson said by email. Ofgem's funding will extend to other storage technologies such as flow batteries, which stash energy in liquid electrolytes, and liquid air systems, which liquefy and store air in insulated tanks. All these could help move the U.K. toward net zero goals. But pumped hydro, while expensive compared with solar and wind, is still among the lowest-cost of all long-duration storage, data shows. The extensive refurbishment of the Dinorwig plant, by majority-owned by French utility Engie, will take as long as 10 years to complete and will mean the plant can run for an extra 25 years. The plant has proved its worth in emergency situations. Inside the control room with its mix of analogue and digital screens is a green phone which comes with only one instruction: when it rings, you answer. This is the grid operator asking for a power boost as was needed in 2019 when more than a million customers in London lost supply. "The advantage of pumped hydro is its durability,' the BHA's Gilmartin said. "It is proven, it's reliable, it's been there for 120 years. So that kind of permanence gives us future resilience.'
Bloomberg
16-05-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
The UK's Clean Power Future Relies on a 100-Year-Old Technology
Business Pumped hydro is key to creating vital energy storage, but the country has half what it needs to meet targets.
