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Comment by dandy23 | Hacker News Reader

And you can pump water up the mountain using solar in the day and use it in the night and on rainy days.

Yes, pumped Hydro is good. But in practice, seems to only store energy for "days", not "months".

Furthermore, water restrictions (especially in the West) force the dams to release water even when electricity isn't needed. Because people need water to drink. A dam can serve multiple masters... but one of those masters will take priority. In most cases, water-rights will take priority over energy storage.

That is to say: we can't store energy reliably in dams that are being used for water rights management. We can release water _and_ generate electricity, but the "choice" as to water rights management vs energy storage is contradictory. Storing energy longer means "not releasing water". While serving the water/drinking needs of the downstream communities means "releasing the water".

Also during long persistent rain, the higher level may be already full and you can't release water from it without causing (even more) flooding.

Do you have an example of a place where that is a significant issue? The upstream flow is the same as it was before a dam is built. You’d imagine this would only become a problem if nearly the entire flow was being consumed, which is unthinkable.

> You’d imagine this would only become a problem if nearly the entire flow was being consumed, which is unthinkable.

The Colorado River hasn't touched the ocean in decades man. Its been fully consumed for a long, long time.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colorado_River_Delta#After_dam...

Hoover Dam will probably not be a pumped-hydro plant in our lifetime. Its not about technology, its about politics and water rights management.

Whoa. I had no idea that line was crossed long ago.

There's a distinction between pumped hydro on a river and when it uses two artificial basins. The second does not have the water rights problem.

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