Why pumped storage is booming

Pumped storage hydropower works like a giant battery.

Electricity is used during off-peak hours to pump water into an elevated reservoir. When demand surges, the water is released to generate electricity.

The technology is becoming essential as solar and wind power expand, since it allows excess renewable energy to be stored and dispatched when needed.

With such pumped hydro-storage power, the need for grid-scale batteries is minimised: power is stored in the form of water (in the upper reservoir).

When the tap is opened, water gushes down to drive grid-scale turbines that produce electricity almost immediately, allowing the grid to cope with peak hour demand.

One-of-a-kind engineering marvel

The Philippines already has long experience with pumped storage through the 728-MW Kalayaan Pumped Storage Power Plant, operated by CBK Power Company in Laguna.

Commissioned in 1984, the facility has been operating for more than four decades, helping balance the Luzon grid during peak demand.

It's the Asean region's first PSHP project and remains the country’s largest and sole operating pumped storage plant, thus proving the reliability of the technology in the local scene.

CBK is currently one-of-a-kind engineering marvel in the Philippines: it features two giant "penstocks", each with a 6-metre diameter. Penstock-I is situated within an excavated trapezoidal trench.

Starting with a diameter of 6 metres, it tapers down to 5.5 metres. The penstock is anchored by six concrete blocks for stability at slope changes and supported by saddles.

CBK has been quietly working, the key to stabilising the Luzon grid since 1984.

By comparison, the $2-billion Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP, construction started in 1976, completed around 1984) was designed with a peak capacity of 620MW.

BNPP was never energised due to reported kickbacks, a US court case (settled by Westinghouse) as well as quality and safety concerns (did not produce as single watt of electricty). The loan provided by the US Export-Import Bank for BNPP was already paid by Filipino taxpayers in full only in 2007.

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