http://www.utilitydive.com/news/first-of-its-kind-rail-energy-storage-project-targets-role-in-caiso-ancilla/417817/
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Just a thought...This looks like an oportunity for a model railroading 'Kitbashing' project.
This sort of resembles a 'water powered' electric storage project from some years back. { I think it was supposed to be part of a big water project in California?} Water was pumped from a resevoir uphill to another lake for storage til needed, and then released down a conduit to provide water power for a bank of turbines. The pumping part was done when there was an excess of capacity in the electric grid. The release when more electricity was needed in the grid. [ IIRC ?]
samfp1943 Just a thought...This looks like an oportunity for a model railroading 'Kitbashing' project. This sort of resembles a 'water powered' electric storage project from some years back. { I think it was supposed to be part of a big water project in California?} Water was pumped from a resevoir uphill to another lake for storage til needed, and then released down a conduit to provide water power for a bank of turbines. The pumping part was done when there was an excess of capacity in the electric grid. The release when more electricity was needed in the grid. [ IIRC ?]
Johnny
samfp1943This sort of resembles a 'water powered' electric storage project from some years back.
I think one was proposed along the Hudson River at one point.
Larry Resident Microferroequinologist (at least at my house) Everyone goes home; Safety begins with you My Opinion. Standard Disclaimers Apply. No Expiration Date Come ride the rails with me! There's one thing about humility - the moment you think you've got it, you've lost it...
DeggestyIs that pump up, flow down system still in use? Or did it die a natural death?
Just south of Ludington, MI is a huge pond that a power company pumps water into from Lake Michigan during periods of little use and discharges through generators during high demand times.
Norm
Pumped storage is common all over the world. It works best where there is a significant elevation difference but as the Ludington plant demonstrates, it can be succesful with a difference in elevation of only 363 ft. It is a great companion to nuclear power which is most economical when running continuously at a rated output and since electricity can't be stored, and since the load is low at night, the pumped storage is economically a very good match. Or as stated in Wikipedia, "This process was designed to level the load of nearby nuclear power plants on the grid. It also replaces the need to build natural gas peak power plants used only during high demand".
From Wikipedia:The first use of pumped storage was in the 1890s in Italy and Switzerland. In the 1930s reversible hydroelectric turbines became available. These turbines could operate as both turbine-generators and in reverse as electric motor driven pumps. The latest in large-scale engineering technology are variable speed machines for greater efficiency. These machines operate in synchronization with the network frequency when generating, but operate asynchronously (independent of the network frequency) when pumping.
The first use of pumped-storage in the United States was in 1930 by the Connecticut Electric and Power Company, using a large reservoir located near New Milford, Connecticut, pumping water from the Housatonic River to the storage reservoir 230 feet above. In 2010 the United States had 21.5 GW of pumped storage generating capacity (20.6% of world capacity).
The proposed rail storage is another solution to the desire to lower the cost of peaking power. It is a way to store cheaper energy and deliver it during times when the cost of generation is greater. Or as the old expression states, BUY LOW, SELL HIGH.
TVA has a large pumped storage facility at Racoon Mountain right outside of Chattanooga, TN. They used to give tours of it but I don't know if they still do.
I thought we had discussed this a year or so ago.
http://cs.trains.com/trn/f/111/t/256376.aspx
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