Pushing Europe's Pumped Storage Potential

摘要

An assessment of the potential for Europe to develop additional hydro pumped storage has revealed that there are opportunities to increase the region's pumped storage capacity by a factor of 10. The Joint Research Centre (JRC), Institute for Energy and Transport report concludes that ambitious European climate and energy policy targets mean a massive shift from fossil to renewable sources is under way. For example, the European Wind Energy Association expects electricity production from wind power to nearly triple by 2020. By introducing significant amounts of variable power, a European energy system with possibilities for energy storage and balancing services through conventional hydro plants with reservoirs and pumped storage hydro would allow, for instance, more wind power in the system without compromising security of supply. The report concludes that flexible hydropower thus creates value but also increases energy security as well as the speed of phasing in more renewables.