South Australia pumped hydro energy storage (PHES) atlas

Abstract

South Australia is widely known as being the State with the largest proportion of variable renewable electricity (wind and solar PV) within Australia. This is expected to increase into the 50-100% range in the coming years. Interconnection with other regions, demand management and local storage are needed in order to ensure stable and affordable supply into the future. Pumped hydro energy storage (PHES) is the most mature and widely deployed electricity storage technology worldwide 97% of globally installed grid storage is pumped hydro. Although Australia is known to be arid, there is ample water to allow the use of closed-cycle PHES systems to balance the electricity grid. We calculate the annual requirement to be less than 1% of South Australia's annual extraction from the Murray River.