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What do hexbears think about pumped hydropower storage? (hexbear.net)
submitted 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) by to c/science@hexbear.net
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To make solar power viable, we need a solution for overnight energy storage.

Batteries are complicated.

Do you know what isn't? Water go up. stonks-up

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[–] 29 points 2 years ago (12 children)

It's fine for places that have a lot of water and hills

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  • [–] [S] 10 points 2 years ago* (4 children)

    For places without water, what's wrong with importing a bunch once? Evaporation suppressors exist to help with hotter climates.

    You're probably right about the hills. Building a water tower that can hold an entire lake seems inefficient.

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  • [–] 13 points 2 years ago (3 children)

    How are you importing an entire lake?

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  • [–] 10 points 2 years ago (5 children)

    you can use saltwater for it though, doesn't need to be fresh water or treated in any way, just a physical medium to make turbine go brrr

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  • [–] 15 points 2 years ago (4 children)

    Machinery and saltwater generally don't mix very well. And you'd still need to make a saltwater lake somewhere uphill.

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  • [–] 2 points 2 years ago (3 children)

    yeah but in this case it's just a pipe and a turbine it's gotta make move

    And you'd still need to make a saltwater lake somewhere uphill.

    water tanks tho

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  • [–] 14 points 2 years ago

    Saltwater damages turbine blades very fast. Using saltwater would require some very different engineering for the turbine blades, which might not be worth the benefit of being able to use saltwater.

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  • [–] 2 points 2 years ago

    The pipe and turbine would break so fast it's basically useless. Also, tanks are waaaay more expensive than digging a hole in the ground.

    There's good reasons why freshwater open reservoirs are used. If tanks and brine were usable, people already would be using them.

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