Pumped Storage Hydropower Resource and Deployment Potential

Conference · Wed Jan 07 00:00:00 EST 2026

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/3014911· OSTI ID:3014911

Cohen, Stuart ^[1]

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1. National Laboratory of the Rockies, Golden, CO (United States)

There is growing interest in deploying new pumped storage hydropower (PSH) to meet grid needs for flexibility, reliability, and resiliency. This presentation describes how NLR resource assessment, cost modeling, and capacity expansion modeling are used to identify technical and economic PSH deployment potential and support industry decision-making on PSH investments. NLR's open data and tools demonstrate the vast technical potential of PSH on the order of 80 TW, and modeling shows economic PSH deployment under an attractive cost-value proposition.

• Research Organization: National Laboratory of the Rockies (NLR), Golden, CO (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Renewable Power Office. Water Power Technologies Office
• DOE Contract Number: AC36-08GO28308
• OSTI ID: 3014911
• Report Number(s): NLR/PR-6A40-95062
• Resource Type: Conference presentation
• Conference Information: Presented at the Pumped Storage Hydro US Conference, 3 June 2025, New York, New York
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

13 HYDRO ENERGY
29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY
CEM
cost modeling
GIS
planning
potential
PSH
pumped hydropower
resource assessment