• ceenote@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    4
    ·
    17 hours ago

    We still have hydroelectric turbines that can reverse themselves to pump water to a higher elevation reservoir to store surplus energy. We call them pump-gens at my job. The problem is that, as nearby areas develop, that water gets reserved for other things, so they can’t pump it back up because it’s needed further downstream for irrigation or communities or whatever.