WHAT WAS THE ONE UNIQUE THING COAL DID TO POWER THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION?
If one is to adhere to reducing carbon dioxide from our exhausts, one must first see the elephant in the room. Removing CO2 is only half the battle. Let me ask, what exactly was at the heart of the coal revolution that powered the world? Specifically, what did coal do that previous forms of energy could not? Coal got us dramatically to where we are today and still in 2022, we cannot do without coal. The answer is TIME. Coal manipulated time, because coal could be "on" all of the time.
For your computer to work the power needs to be on - and not fluctuate slow down or speed up - but rock steady "on". Coal provided that state of "on" and it's called base-load. The debate to whether renewables can supply geographic base-load or deliver base-load demand is not for me to say... although we can all agree we would still be reliant on the weather being favourable and/or require peak-load power with either pumped storage or gas turbines. Time is not 'quite' under control but manageable albeit reliant on pumped storage.
But this dilemma has come about because renewable base-load is not possible yet, because renewables are intermittent and we are trying to replace coal.
Renewables wind and solar miss the imperative coal has... so it's not surprising coal isn't so easily replaced. Wind and solar come with a clear disadvantage, they're not able to do what coal does, be "on" all of the time.
Here's the rub. We are adding a battery (yet to be found) knowingly seeking to accept the limitation of renewable intermittent power by geographically shunting energy around to deliver 'base-load demand' (on a good day) - or shall we update pumped storage to run with integrated wind and solar delivering 24 x 7 renewable base-load.
WHAT IS BIDIRECTIONAL PUMPED STORAGE?
We could add a second penstock and generators so pumped storage becomes Bidirectional thus allowing simultaneous water flow, which affords more flexibility... but it's one step short of continuous water flow.
CONTINUOUS WATER FLOW
Renewable Pumped Storage (RPS) uses gravity and buoyancy assisted by wind and solar or peak-load gas turbines to create a Continuous Water Flow.
HYDROBUOY requires only air and water, and with a natural replenishing supply of air and water, HYDROBUOY manages 'control of time'. The size of the upper storage determines 'time' in hours and days of storage.
Storing intermittent wind and solar energy and delivering renewable baseload.
ADVANTAGES OF RENEWABLE PUMPED STORAGE
WHAT IS RENEWABLE PUMPED STORAGE?
Joining ends allows a continuous flow of water which is the method applied to make a battery that stores intermittent renewable energy, and delivers renewable hydroelectricity 24 x 7 with days of energy storage depending on the environment.
WHAT IS ONE DIRECTION PUMPED STORAGE?
'One direction' is the standard 100 year old pumped storage system. An upper reservoir is connected by penstocks to an engine room and lower water reserve. At night water is pumped up (filled) and is released (emptying) throughout the day on demand.
HYDRO FACTS
Facts according to GE has been in the hydropower industry for more than 100 years.
THE TARGET CAN CHANGE
The energy storage world is chasing the battery market, hundreds in competition... but along comes a game changer 'like solar at night', and the competition evaporates. It happens. If 'solar panels at night' worked, then storage might never be needed - and definitely someone today is developing solar at night. The target can change. Someone already developed a 24 x 7 system and no battery was needed, it's called coal and it powers the world. Hydrobuoy Renewable Pumped Storage goes somewhere between, the battery is built-in. The target changed. A Renewable Dynamic Energy System is the new target.
WHAT IS PUMPED STORAGE AND WHY UPGRADE?
Pumped Storage (PS) is a hydro 'battery' and differs from hydro-electricity. As you know, water flows from the mountain to the sea. To harness the power of falling water we tap into the flow - we direct the falling water through turbines to generate hydro-electricity. But Pumped Storage is a little different - the water in Pumped Storage is pumped up hill by coal - and could be called Coal Pumped Storage.
Coal Pumped Storage is designed to perform the 'On Demand' job. To supply a lot of power quickly within seconds when needed. Coal Pumped Storage pumps water up hill at night (at low cost) ready to generate in the morning (at high return) for a million breakfasts.
Coal Pumped Storage performs this all day and night to cover for the ever fluctuating needs of the grid. This is repeated every day - one complete cycle every 24 hours. See the image 'One-direction, 100 year old design'. And while Coal Pumped Storage is delivering bursts of power, coal is delivering baseload.
Pumped Storage was based around coal, and wind and solar never existed 100 years ago, so it's a logical imperative if we are to transition to renewables that Pumped Storage change from Coal Pumped Storage to Renewable Pumped Storage.
CARBON FOOTPRINT
Reservoirs have a carbon footprint, almost 1.3% of world total greenhouse gases, methane, carbon dioxide thought to be caused by decaying microorganisms in the water. The cyclic action of Hydrobuoy re-oxygenates the water keeping it clean and free from bacterial emissions.
With a laptop, you can continue to work whilst recharging your battery - but with Pumped Storage it's not possible - it's either On or Off, either charging or discharging. The biggest battery in the world has to go off-line to recharge... but RPS changes the target once again.
That's the technological bridge we need to cross. The goal is not just no CO2, it's to be "on" all of the time - that's the leap renewables must achieve. To achieve a renewable grid we must master time and not be held captive or limited by the weather.
Pumped Storage today handles about 95% of the worlds energy storage - and it was designed to work with coal 100 years ago - no wonder it does not fill the renewable need we have today.
By updating from coal pumped storage to renewable pumped storage we can achieve a 24 x 7 'all-in-one' Renewable Base-load Battery.
THE RENEWABLE DYNAMIC ENERGY TARGET
As wind and solar are intermittent, base-load becomes difficult. Two NSWxxxxxxxxxx have calculated it is possible to geographically shunt energy to maintain 'base-load demand' (which is not base-load but might as well be), but I propose Instead of shuffling wind and solar to and from multiple locations to deliver a 'base-load like' performance, think of renewables all working together as one machine delivering 'renewable dynamic energy' and have control of time.
