a) Introduction to PHSS

This is a mechanical type of energy storage system. It can store very bulk
amounts of energies, more than 100GW. Pumped hydro storage system (PHSS) (or) Pumped
Hydro Electric Energy Storage stores the energy in the form of potential energy by pumping
water from lower level reservoir to a higher level reservoir as shown in the figure.2. During
the non- peak times of the day, by using low cost electricity, the water in the lower reservoir
is pumped to a higher reservoir and the same stored water will be released during the period
of high power requirement to run the hydro turbines to generate the electric power.
b) Components of PHSS
Pumped Hydro Storage (PHS) system stores the electrical energy in the form of
potential energy of water at elevated height. Generally, this storage of water at higher
elevation takes place through pumping with a motor as shown in the figure.2. The main parts
of a Pumped Hydro Storage (PHS) system are shown in figure.2.They are:
1. Upper Reservoir
2. Lower Reservoir
3. Motor
4. Control Valve
5. Dam
6. Generator
7. Transformer and
8. Power Transmission system
9. Penstocks (1 or 2) for water pumping to
reservoirs
c) Operating Principle of PHSS
This system has 1 or 2 penstocks to supply the water to the reservoirs. If it was
provided with 2 penstocks, then one will serve the purpose of pumping the water to the upper
reservoir and the other will be used to generate the electricity by running the turbine with down
flow water simultaneously. Therefore, the quantity of stored energy is comparative to the height
difference between the reservoirs and the mass of water stored according to equation
Hence, E = mgh
Where, m= Net difference in the mass of water stored in reservoir

1
 G= acceleration due to gravity and
h= Difference in heights between the reservoirs

Hence the charging and discharging can happen at the same time by using 2 penstocks
as shown figure 3. In the figure.1, the water flow during charging was shown in red color and the
flow during discharge with blue.

The water storage capacity of the reservoirs depends on the height from which the
water is falling on the turbine and the volume of the total available water in the reservoir. These
restrictions can be defeated by increasing the height of the water level as well as the volume by
building dams. The other possible solutions are by underground pumped water energy using
mine shafts and replacing lower reservoirs with oceans or any open seas.

Fig.3: Charging Vs Discharging