Mo. Reservoir Breach Washes Away Homes, Cars

[Mickey1992]

Although it appears not without possible failure, this setup is pretty interesting.  I had never heard of it before.

Water is pumped up from a small reservoir to a larger, 1.5 billion gallon reservoir.  The water then flows back into the smaller reservoir, passing through turbines and generating electricity.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051214/ap_on_re_us/dam_failure

[mora]

Well I guess that's one way to store electricity, doesn't sound too efficient though.

[FUNKED1]

!#@$!@#$ Boosh

[Chairboy]

Grow up, Funked.

How is the water pumped up there?  There's a net loss if it's electrically done.  Also, does it serve normal irrigation purposes?

Finally, what does the headline have to do with the resevoir?  Did it fail?

[FUNKED1]

I personally blame the Boosh energy policy and slow FEMA response.  Boosh lied, homes and cars died.

The water is pumped up there... with pumps.  Electrically driven.
When hydroelectric power supply exceeds demand (like in the middle of the night), they store some of the energy by pumping the water up.  Then when you have high demand you can let it come down and spin your turbines, and you get most of the energy back.  It's basically a big battery.  We have these in California too.

[Ripsnort]

Originally posted by FUNKED1
I personally blame the Boosh energy policy and slow FEMA response.  Boosh lied, homes and cars died.

[Skilless]

What you are describing is a very large and cumbersome perpetual motion device.  It is impossible.  The energy used to pump the water up to the second reservoir would exceed that prduced by the turbines.

[Sandman]

Originally posted by Mickey1992

That looks like a disaster waiting to happen.

[FUNKED1]

Originally posted by Skilless
What you are describing is a very large and cumbersome perpetual motion device.  It is impossible.  The energy used to pump the water up to the second reservoir would exceed that prduced by the turbines.

The system isn't designed to create energy.  It just stores energy during off-peak periods.

[Sandman]

Originally posted by FUNKED1
The system isn't designed to create energy.  It just stores energy during off-peak periods.

Bingo

[Skilless]

Originally posted by FUNKED1
The system isn't designed to create energy.  It just stores energy during off-peak periods.

Ah, yes...
I guess I should have skimmed the article better...

It still seems like a very elaborate and inefficient way to store energy...

[Seagoon]

Not the sort of place you want to allow dynamite fishing....

[mora]

I don't think it's all bad. Something like that might actually make wind or solar power somewhat feasible.

[Nashwan]

It still seems like a very elaborate and inefficient way to store energy..

IIRC, pumped hydro is the cheapest way to store electricty. It can also release it very quickly when needed. Dinorwig in North Wales, for example, can go from standby (when it uses no power) to 1300 megawatts in about 10 seconds, which is very handy for coping with sudden spikes in power demand (or drops in supply)

[Rolex]

It's all about peak demand. They've been doing this for decades in other places.