ANU STORES – STORES GIS Methodology

Pumped hydro energy storage (PHES) is capable of large-scale energy balancing and providing a wide range of grid stabilisation services in a modern electricity system with high renewable energy penetration. Increasing interest in utilising closed-loop off-stream PHES to support high levels of intermittent renewable energy demands improved geographic information system (GIS)-based algorithms to identify prospective sites over a large land area.

This study establishes mathematical models for two typical PHES locations, dry-gully and turkey’s nest, and develops a sequence of automatic GIS-based procedures to locate sites for short-term off-river pumped hydro energy storage. By applying the site searching algorithms and a variety of search criteria defined in the modelling, a case study is conducted for South Australia, where 168 dry-gully sites and 22 turkey’s nest sites are identified with a total storage capacity of 441 GL, 276 GWh. Sensitivity of the total storage capacity and the number of sites to two critical criteria is also explored. Dry-gully and turkey’s nest site models developed in this study are also applicable to other types of PHES such as those adjacent to existing water bodies, old mining pits and ocean-based PHES.