Northern Territory pumped hydro energy storage (PHES) atlas

Abstract

The Northern Territory has 100 times more PHES sites than required to convert to a 100% renewable electricity system. The Territory infrastructure is not connected to the other Australian states, but the solar resource excellent. Many remote systems are powered using diesel generators, which are noisy and polluting, and also require the transport of diesel fuel. 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.