EPRI energy storage report includes pumped storage hydro
A new report available from EPRI — Cost-Effectiveness of Energy Storage in California: Application of the Energy Storage Valuation Tool to Inform the California Public Utility Commission Proceeding R. 10-12-007 — includes results from a variety of energy storage options, including pumped storage hydropower.
The report bases results on the EPRI Energy Storage Valuation Tool, a software system designed to enable the assessment of energy storage cost-effectiveness in different use cases. The software models a wide range of pre-loaded storage technologies, including pumped storage hydro, batteries and compressed air energy storage. It is intended to enable preliminary economic analysis prior to more resource-intensive analytical efforts.
Scenarios covered during software runs involve three different general use cases, including transmission-connected bulk energy storage, short-duration energy storage to provide ancillary services and distribution-connected energy storage located at a utility substation.
In this report, the pumped-storage hydro system that was modeled was a 300-MW, eight-hour system with a 100-year project life. Results indicated a 1.32 benefit-to-cost ratio for this technology, a breakeven capital cost of $223/kWh and $1,783/kW. For comparison, the breakeven capital cost per kWh was the lowest of any of the 35 runs of the software.
When determining net present value of the project life, costs of this pumped storage plant were more than 89 million and benefits were more than $1 billion.
– The report can be downloaded for free at http://www.epri.com/abstracts/Pages/ProductAbstract.aspx?ProductId=000000003002001162.
Corps awards fish protection and research contract
Radio Frequency Identification Solutions SL has been awarded a US$842,600 contract from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for the supply of large quantities of passive integrated transponder (PIT) tags for its Northwestern Division’s Anadromous Fish Evaluation Program.
The PIT tags are needed quickly to accommodate timing of migrating juvenile salmonoids and research activities.
PIT tags have been used extensively to track fish as they travel past radio receivers in hydroelectric projects on the mainstem Columbia River. These tags are very small (12 mm by 2.1 mm) and contain an antenna and integrated circuit chip.
This program is a set of Corps-funded evaluation and monitoring studies designed to give the region better biological information and insights related to fish passage and survival at dams that impound water for hydroelectric facilities. Studies being conducted include such topics as effects of juvenile fish transportation, evaluation of fish guidance devices and surface collection, effects of gas supersaturation on fish and adult fish passage at dams.
New technology to control invasive mussels tested
Research is under way on the use of a technology based on Hydro Optic Dynamics (HOD) to control invasive mussels at hydroelectric facilities.
This form of ultraviolet technology, provided by Atlantium, consists of an inner quartz sleeve that recycles the UV energy to completely “fill” the reaction chamber. The light is then passed throughout the chamber in a process known as HOD. A polychromatic medium pressure lamp then irradiates the effective germicidal spectrum to damage the organisms. Finally, the logic and controls use inputs from the flow rate and two sensors per lamp to optimize a specific dose at the lowest energy demand. Trials of this technology have shown 98% to 99% control, according to Atlantium.
Invasive mussels have caused significant economic damage, increased maintenance and lost energy for the hydro industry. They can impede heat transfer areas, occlude water cooling pipes and damage turbines. But, in many rivers, use of harmful chemicals is prohibited. Because it is a light-based treatment, HOD does not affect the water.
This technology is under consideration for future testing by the U.S. Department of Interior’s Bureau of Reclamation, according to public affairs specialist Peter Soeth.
Atlantium is a privately owned company with investors that include Alstom, Solvay and Schneider Electric.
Research indicates policy barriers to hydro development
Recent research performed at Penn State indicates that policy barriers to hydropower development are preventing it from being used to back up the increasing amount of wind generation being added to the grid.
Scientists studied the 227-MW Kerr Dam project in North Carolina, which produces power in the PJM market, as well as supplying other local outlets. The constraints to its operation brought about by the need to supply drinking water and water for irrigation, as well as meet fish and wildlife requirements and minimum levels for droughts, prevents the project from being operated in a way that adequately compensates for the intermittent nature of wind facilities, the researchers say.
So-called guide curves used to operate the plants, created by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in this case, are based on one-week weather forecasts. The scientists determined operation of the hydropower facility could accommodate the unexpected variations in wind energy if they were extended to two-week curves, rather than one week. However, it is difficult to change these guide curves, and uncertainty exists with regard to adequate weather prediction over this longer time frame.
In addition, excess electricity from hydro plants can be sold on the spot market. Changing the pricing of electricity to make backing up wind more lucrative would not make hydro plant owners more prone to supply backup to wind power, researchers say. They attribute this to the fact that current operational and policy constraints are difficult to overcome.
This research was published in Environmental Research Letters at http://iopscience.iop.org/1748-9326/8/2/024037.
Forest Service performing research on fish protection
The U.S. Forest Service awarded a contract worth US$1 million to Allied Engineering in mid-June for fish protection work on lands in the Intermountain West. The company will collect stream flow, habitat, topography, other inflow, and diversion data to determine the effects of diversions on stream flow and fish habitat.
The contractor is responsible for collecting field measurements, providing a technical report that details the data collection methodology, site characteristics, summary of habitat mapping, and flow to habitat relationships. The work is to be located primarily in Idaho and southwestern Montana.
The Forest Service says federal authorizations of water diversions, such as those for hydro projects, on National Forest System lands might require consultation under the Endangered Species Act to evaluate effects of water withdrawal on threatened or endangered fish. The Northwest Forest Plan approved by Congress in 1994 requires the Forest Service to restore and maintain connectivity within and between watersheds.
