Under Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham’s ambitious Energy Transition Act, NM will ideally rely on solely renewable energy sources by 2050. But the question on the minds of many New Mexicans is how will we store our new clean energy for use when the wind is not blowing and the sun is not shining? Battery technology has made leaps and bound over the last decade, but it has not progressed to a point where we can rely on battery storage of electricity to power entire cities – especially in periods of prolonged cloud cover or low wind speeds.
One option for electricity storage that’s been seeing renewed traction is “pumped-storage hydroelectricity.” Pumped storage works in two stages by using an upper and lower water reservoir. When there is excess electricity, water is pumped up to the upper reservoir for storage. When electricity demand is tight, or at its peak, water from the upper reservoir is released through a hydropower turbine producing power when wind or solar is not an option. Read more HERE.