Pumped Hydro Storage: Pressure Cavern

The current Dutch electricity market is changing rapidly. New energy agreements demand 40% of Dutch electricity to be produced by renewable sources. This will complicate the link between supply and demand. Where demand used to be the only unknown, also a large part of the electricity supply will become less certain. It is necessary to be able to store energy to keep the Dutch grid stable. Energy Storage This technology is currently very small. The only prosperous technology is that of Pumped Hydro Storage, which uses abundant electricity to pump water into a mountain basin and produces electricity by running this water through a turbine. The requirement of large height differences makes this technology impossible for use in the Netherlands. Pumped Hydro Storage: Pressure Cavern This feasibility study contains the conceptual design of a new energy storage alternative in the Netherlands. It stores water in a low-risk manner by combining the main points of Pumped Hydro Storage with Salt Caverns, which are large cavities left behind by Salt Solution Mining. This form of mining bores into salt domes (large, compressed salt layers) beneath the North-East of the country and leaves large cavities that be used for storage. However, this is impossible to combine with Pumped Hydro Storage, because low pressure will lead to rapid shrinkage of the cavern. The economical competitor There are several parties that will be interested in energy storage, which include energy companies and the National System Operator, TenneT. The yearly revenues are estimated to be 6 million euros. When comparing the market potential a payback period of roughly 8-9 years is expected. The large resemblance to Pumped Hydro Storage limits the risks in comparison to other alternatives. Technical and economic analyses have shown the potential of the Pressure Cavern-concept and conclude that it is definitely a business case worth investigating in order to provide the flexibility that the Dutch market is going to need so badly the coming decades.Hydraulic StructuresHydraulic EngineeringCivil Engineering and Geoscience