Pumped Hydro Energy Storage across Australia

Originally posted by pintohoo ↑

imo I think the superpit is an excellent example of how to have a dumb idea and try and make something of it.

this is how the thinking seems to go -

oh, we have a big hole - gee, if that was full of water - we could do something with it.

fine

but, you need a few other things - like

another hole - and, a big bugger -- or lots of other little holes

sufficient head to get the pressure for your generation

large generation by some other source to put the water from hole 2 back into hole 1

all this depends on the geography and topography and all of it costs a bomb.

How long did it take to dig the super pit?? - a bloody long time.

the Pilbara - may well be sites there - because it's hilly - not so hilly around Kal - not that sort of hilly anyway.

Then of course - you need lids on your sauce pans - and, that may well be cheap - if you use something like blankets as opposed to sauce pan lids - which - god forbid, I wouldn't like the job of designing something like that.

And, of course - all this in a time of supposed climate change - where IF it's true - we might end up with 100 year droughts in some of these places

I think there is economic value in the super pit - after the gold is finished -- but, only because it's a hole - and, people for some reason might well pay to come and see a big hole.

god knows why - but, they do seem interested.

honestly - if it so far hasn't stacked up for pumped storage and reuse in Tassie with a big market across the ditch - how could it stack up in Kalgoorlie?????

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You are reasonably intelligent Pintohoo , so why do you post the above ?
You do not seem to understand the tech .
Pumped hydro is a viable form of storing energy and has been used in California for many years evaporation is minimal, efficiency is around 80%, only need two lakes with about 2 days of storage capacity or even less , also depends on head , so not a large amount of water compared with dams that often have 4 months of storage , far better for large scale than lithium batteries
Poster Sierra is correct in this case , suggest you do some research
There is an ASX listed company planning to employ the tech with a mine pit to use for head , A Californian company is looking to use a similar principle but with rail cars ie take them to the top of a hill , from solar panel energy duirng the day , as they roll down the hill at night they generate the power back into the grid .