2.2.5 Other Pumped Storage

production to other states. Like PV solar, wind energy is not dispatchable, and it has a lower ability to predictably match demand. Therefore, use of wind energy, particularly in Wyoming, is a major driver of the need for energy storage resources like the proposed Project.

Wyoming’s geothermal resources are used for direct heating applications, mainly in Yellowstone National Park and Hot Springs State Park, and do not have adequate resources for commercial electricity generation (State of Wyoming Geological Survey 2015). However, the economics of geothermal power require that it operates as a baseload facility. Geothermal resources are site specific and require significant lead times and development risk. More generally, the cost of geothermal generation is depressing its inclusion in most resource plans. Additionally, geothermal generation is baseload in nature and not able to provide the energy storage services needed for integrating other renewable resources. Therefore, geothermal is not a viable generation alternative to the Project.

Conventional hydroelectric power has provided relatively firm, carbon-free energy in parts of the western U.S., specifically the Pacific Northwest, California, and Colorado, for many decades. Wyoming currently has 21 dams that generate power, most of which are owned and operated by the federal government. Across a wider region, there is potential for new, small hydropower additions to non-powered dams, but there are no plans for major hydropower projects akin to those developed in other parts of the west in earlier generations. Due to the limited potential of future large hydropower developments, openloop pumped storage developments serve as opportunities to better utilize existing hydropower developments in Wyoming.

The lack of viable development opportunities for new major hydroelectric power sources in the western region, along with the other reasons given here, mean that conventional hydroelectric power is not a viable generation alternative to the Project.

The viability of pumped storage projects requires a relatively rare combination of factors to be present, including suitable topography and geology, land availability, a source of fill water, an acceptable level of environmental impact, correct sizing for the market, and interconnection options. No major pumped storage projects have been constructed in the U.S. since 1995, and relatively few proposed pumped storage projects advance to development and receiving a FERC license. There are only three pumped storage projects in the Western Electricity Coordinating Council region that recently have received a FERC license: Eagle Mountain in California, Swan Lake North in Oregon, and Gordon Butte in Montana. Construction has not commenced at any of these projects.

Within the State of Wyoming, there are currently three preliminary permits pending or recently granted for other proposed pumped storage projects (P-15244, P-15247, P-15253). Two involve closed-loop concepts and one is an off-stream (open-loop) concept similar in concept to the Project. Each of these projects have a proposed generation capacity of 500 MW. Recently, a Notice of Decision Not to Proceed was filed for a 400 MW, closed-loop concept in Wyoming (P-14853) due to land ownership and access issues.