Asia and Oceania

Gridflex Energy pursuing pumped-storage hydro projects

Gridflex Energy LLC, a developer of bulk energy-storage projects, is pursuing plans for five pumped-storage hydroelectric projects in Wyoming.

Gridflex Energy LLC, a developer of bulk energy-storage projects, is pursuing plans for five pumped-storage hydroelectric projects in Wyoming.

Four of the proposed hydropower projects would be located in Carbon County, within range of several planned transmission projects intended to ship Wyoming’s wind energy to Southwestern markets.

The fifth proposed pumped-storage project would be located in Converse County, near the planned origination point of the High Plains Express, which is intended to help deliver renewable energy through Wyoming, Colorado and New Mexico to Arizona.

The pumped-storage projects would use surplus wind energy to pump water from a lower elevation to a higher one. When energy demand is greater than the amount that can be provided by existing wind alone, the water would be released from the high elevation through turbines to generate additional power, local media reported.

The pumped-storage projects range in size from 300-500 MW; the combined capacity of the projects, if all were developed, would be 1,900 MW. Energy storage potential would be more than 50 GWh – equivalent to what 3,000 MW of wind turbines would put out for 17 hours at their maximum.

In other pumped-storage hydro news, SMEC has been awarded a contract for feasibility studies of a pumped-storage addition to the Magat Hydroelectric Project (an existing 360-MW hydropower project) on the island of Luzon in the Philippines.

The project is being undertaken by a major private sector investor in power stations in the Philippines, SN Aboitiz Power (SNAP). SNAP includes Statkraft Norge (Europe’s largest renewables company) in joint venture with the Aboitiz group, one of the largest conglomerates in the Philippines focusing on electricity, financial food and transport sectors.

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