First we must establish how much energy storage Australia will need to support all-renewables electricity mixes of the types envisioned by Blakers et al. I don’t have the data necessary to make a firm estimate, but in this previous post I estimated that between 2.8 and 4 TWh would be needed over a three-month period, which as I noted at the time “will underestimate long-term storage requirements, quite possibly by a large amount.” I have no way of knowing how much larger the amount might be, but 10 TWh (10,000 GWh) is a good round number, so in the absence of more definitive data I have used this as Australia’s “target”.
First, the Snowy 2.0 pumped hydro project. Details are available in the Snowy 2.0 feasibility study and are summarized thus in Snowy Hydro’s summary web page:
Snowy 2.0 is a pumped-hydro expansion of the Snowy Scheme which will supercharge existing generation and large-scale storage capabilities. (It) will link the two existing reservoirs of Tantangara and Talbingo through underground tunnels and there will be an underground power station in between with pumping capabilities. (It) will increase generation capacity of up to 2000 megawatts, and at full capacity, about 350,000 megawatt hours (350 gigawatt hours) of energy storage.
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