Hybrid renewable pumped storage hydropower energy storage system
AssigneesHector Eduardo Medina, Thomas Vance Eldredge
InventorsHector Eduardo Medina, Thomas V. Eldredge
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Abstract
A pumped storage hydroelectric system may include a reservoir system including an upper reservoir system and a lower reservoir system. At least one of the upper reservoir system and the lower reservoir system may include a modular reservoir arrangement. A penstock may be coupled with the upper reservoir system. A pump/turbine may be coupled with the penstock and with the lower reservoir system. The pump/turbine may be configured to receive water flowing from the upper reservoir system to the lower reservoir system for generating electrical power, and to pump water from the lower reservoir system to the upper reservoir system for storing energy.
Claims13
A pumped storage hydroelectric system comprising:
- a reservoir system including an upper reservoir system and a lower reservoir system, at least one of the upper reservoir system and the lower reservoir system including a modular reservoir arrangement, wherein the one or more modular reservoir tanks include an array of modular tanks, the array of modular tanks including a plurality of modular tanks separated, and at least partially supported by, earthen berms in a generally mutually supporting arrangement;
- a penstock coupled with the upper reservoir system;
- a pump/turbine coupled with the penstock and with the lower reservoir system, the pump/turbine configured to:
- receive water flowing from the upper reservoir system to the lower reservoir system for generating electrical power, and
- pump water from the lower reservoir system to the upper reservoir system for storing energy;
- and
- at least one support structure configured to support a photovoltaic panel, wherein the at least one support structure is disposed between two adjacent modular tanks of the plurality of modular tanks on one of the earthen berms.
A pumped storage hydroelectric system comprising:
- a scalable reservoir system comprising:
- an upper reservoir system comprising one or more upper modular reservoir tanks;
- and
- a lower reservoir system comprising one or more lower modular reservoir tanks;
- wherein the number of upper modular reservoir tanks and the number of lower modular reservoir tanks is selected to provide a desired potential energy storage capacity, and wherein one or more of the upper modular reservoir tanks and lower modular reservoir tanks include an array of semi-flexible bladder tanks separated by earthen berms to provide a generally mutually supporting arrangement of at least a portion of the bladder tanks;
- a penstock fluidly coupled with the upper reservoir system and the lower reservoir system,
- at least a portion of the penstock including one or more of a polymer-based conduit and a composite conduit;
- a pump/turbine coupled with the penstock and the lower reservoir system for generating electricity during a flow of water from the upper reservoir system to the lower reservoir system, and for storing energy by pumping water from the lower reservoir system to the upper reservoir system;
- a surge protection device associated with one or more of the penstock and the pump/turbine;
- and
- at least one support structure configured to support a photovoltaic panel, wherein the at least one support structure is disposed between two adjacent modular tanks of the plurality of modular tanks on one of the earthen berms.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.