Pumped-hydro energy storage: potential for transformation from single dams

Pumped hydropower storage (PHS) is currently the only widespread electricity storage technology able to the offer large-scale storage that is needed for accommodating renewable electricity under the 2020 EU energy targets.Compared with the high environmental and social impact of most newhydropower plant in Europe, the transformation of an existing reservoirinto a PHS system offers the prospect of much smaller environmental andsocial impacts.The Joint Research Centre and the University CollegeCork developed a geographical information system (GIS) - basedmethodology and model to identify the potential for transforming singlereservoirs into PHS systems and to assess the additional energy storagewhich new PHS could contribute to electricity systems.