Why Is Hydroelectricity So Green, and yet Unfashionable?

Re:Why Is Hydroelectricity So Green, and yet Unfashionable? by pfdietz on Thursday October 27, 2022 @10:59PM (#33367084)

There's no river at the bottom, either. I thought the "desert" part would make that clear, but I guess it had to be said.

Water in this system is part of the capital cost (charging it up when you start), then a minor maintenance cost (replacing evaporation). Otherwise, unlike primary hydro, there is no large constant flow out of the system, and no need to be on a river.

The water lost to evaporation is at least an order of magnitude less than water evaporated from a nuclear plant of the same levelized power.

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Re:Why Is Hydroelectricity So Green, and yet Unfashionable? by sidewndr46 on Thursday October 27, 2022 @11:22PM (#33367263)

Wouldn't you need two reservoirs in that case? Otherwise where is the water being drained down to take advantage of the potential energy?

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Re:Why Is Hydroelectricity So Green, and yet Unfashionable? by pfdietz on Friday October 28, 2022 @12:45AM (#33367773)

Yes, of course. Off-river pumped hydro involves two reservoirs.

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Re:Why Is Hydroelectricity So Green, and yet Unfashionable? by nirimda on Friday October 28, 2022 @06:38AM (#33369708)

I think the confusion is a couple of comments up you said "There's a plan to put a reservoir for one on top of a mesa in the desert in Arizona" which is really confusing since of course they're planning to put a pair of reservoirs for one in the desert in Arizona. I guess only one is on top of the mesa though.

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Re:Why Is Hydroelectricity So Green, and yet Unfashionable? by sidewndr46 on Friday October 28, 2022 @07:46AM (#33370174)

So at that point why use a river? Couldn't you just use ocean water? It's comparatively "free" and we aren't going to run out anytime soon.

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Re:Why Is Hydroelectricity So Green, and yet Unfashionable? by BurningFrog on Friday October 28, 2022 @10:55AM (#33372130)

With a high enough plateau near an ocean, that should work.

I think those places are really rare though.

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