Underground Pumped Hydroelectric Energy Storage in South Africa using Aquifers and Existing Infrastructure

Khan, Sabah; Davidson, Innocent E.

doi:10.1007/978-3-658-15029-7_19

Cited by 8 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 7 publications

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“…South Africa Stoch, 2010a, 2010b;Khan and Davidson, 2017;Winde et al, 2017), Netherlands (Min, 1984;Braat et al, 1985), Germany (Beck and Schmidt, 2011;Luick et al, 2012;Madlener and Specht, 2013;Meyer, 2013;Zillmann and Perau, 2015;Alvarado et al, 2016), Belgium (Spriet, 2014;Poulain et al, 2016;Bodeux et al, 2017) or Spain (Menéndez et al, 2017). Impacts of the water exchanges on the groundwater flow conditions and on the UPHS efficiency evolution have been also investigated (Poulain et al, 2016;Pujades et al, 2016;Bodeux et al, 2017;Pujades et al, 2017a).…”

Section: U N C O R R E C T E D P R O O Fmentioning

confidence: 99%

Parametric assessment of hydrochemical changes associated to underground pumped hydropower storage

Pujades

Jurado

Orban

et al. 2019

Science of The Total Environment

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Underground pumped hydropower storage (UPHS) using abandoned mines is an alternative to store and produce electricity in flat regions. Excess of electricity is stored in form of potential energy by pumping mine water to a surface reservoir. When the demand of electricity increases, water is discharged into the mine (i.e., underground reservoir) through turbines producing electricity. During the complete operational process of UPHS plants, hydrochemical characteristics of water evolve continuously to be in equilibrium successively with the atmosphere (in the surface reservoir) and the surrounding porous medium (in the underground reservoir). It may lead to precipitation and/or dissolution of minerals and their associated consequences, such as pH variations. Induced hydrochemical changes may have an impact on the environment and/or the efficiency (e.g., corrosions and incrustations affect facilities) of UPHS plants. The nature of the hydrochemical changes is controlled by the specific chemical characteristics of the surrounding porous medium. However, the magnitude of the changes also depends on other variables, such as hydraulic parameters. The role of these parameters is established to define screening criteria and improve the selection procedure of abandoned mines for constructing UPHS plants. This work evaluates the role of the main hydrogeological factors for three different chemical composition of the porous medium. Results are obtained by means of numerical reactive transport modeling. Potential impacts on the environment (mainly on groundwater and surface water bodies) and on the efficiency of the UPHS plants vary considerably from a hydraulic parameter to another showing the need for a detailed characterization before choosing locations of future UPHS plants.

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Section: U N C O R R E C T E D P R O O Fmentioning

confidence: 99%

Parametric assessment of hydrochemical changes associated to underground pumped hydropower storage

Pujades

Jurado

Orban

et al. 2019

Science of The Total Environment

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“…More recently, Severson (2011) suggested potential sites to establish a taconite mine in Minnesota (USA) and to use the excavated cavity after the mining activities as the underground reservoir for a UPSH plant. UPSH has also been investigated in Germany (Alvarado et al, 2016;Zillmann and Perau, 2015;Luick et al, 2012), Belgium (Spriet, 2014), Spain (Menéndez et al, 2017) and South Africa (Khan and Davidson, 2016;Winde et al, 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hydrochemical changes induced by underground pumped storage hydropower and their associated impacts

Pujades

Jurado

Orban

et al. 2018

Journal of Hydrology

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Underground pumped storage hydropower (UPSH) using abandoned mines is an alternative system to manage electricity production in flat regions. Water from an underground reservoir is pumped to a surface reservoir to store electricity in the form of potential energy. Later, water is discharged through turbines into the underground reservoir to produce electricity when demand increases. During this operation, the water hydrochemistry continuously evolves. It varies in order to reach chemical equilibrium with the atmosphere (in the surface reservoir) and with the surrounding porous medium and groundwater (in the underground reservoir). The hydrochemical variations may lead to reactions in the reservoirs and in the surrounding porous medium, causing potentially negative consequences for the environment and the system efficiency, especially when pyrite is present in the surrounding porous medium. In this case, pyrite oxidation leads to a decrease in pH and the precipitation of goethite or schwertmannite in the surface reservoir. The decrease in pH is mitigated when calcite is present in the porous medium. However, other concerns may arise, such as slight increases in pH, the precipitation of ferrihydrite and calcite in the surface reservoir, and the oxidation of pyrite and dissolution of calcite in the surrounding porous medium. Understanding the pH variations and the precipitation/dissolution of minerals is of paramount importance in terms of the environmental impacts and system efficiency. For this reason, with numerical modelling, this work investigates the main hydrochemical changes and their associated consequences when abandoned deep mines are used for UPSH. The main objective is to highlight the importance of considering hydrochemical aspects when designing future UPSH plants.

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“…UPSH possibilities have been investigated in different parts of the world: The Netherlands (Min, 1984), Singapore (Wong, 1996), USA (Allen et al, 1984;Severson, 2011), Germany (Beck and Schmidt, 2011;Zillman and Perau, 2015;Alvarado et al, 2016), Belgium Poulain et al, 2018), Spain (Menéndez et al, 2017), South Africa (Winde and Stoch, 2010a, b;Khan and Davidson, 2016;Winde et al, 2017), Finland and Australia (Academy of Science of South Africa, 2018). However, there are no bibliographical evidences of constructed UPSH plants.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Numerical study of the Martelange mine to be used as underground reservoir for constructing an Underground Pumped Storage Hydropower plant

et al. 2018

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Abstract. Underground Pumped Storage Hydropower (UPSH) using abandoned mines has been considered as a potential high capacity Energy Storage Systems. In UPSH plants, the excess of electricity is stored in the form of potential energy by pumping water from an underground reservoir (abandoned mine in this paper) to a surface reservoir, while electricity is produced (when the demand increases) discharging water from the surface into the underground reservoir. The main concerns may arise from the water exchanges occurring between the underground reservoir and the surrounding medium, which are relevant in terms of environmental impact and UPSH efficiency. Although the role of the water exchanges has been previously addressed, most studies are based on synthetic models. This work focuses on a real abandoned slate mine located in Martelange (Belgium). The effects of different rehabilitation works to prepare the mine as an underground reservoir are assessed in terms of groundwater exchanges and their associated consequences.

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Underground Pumped Hydroelectric Energy Storage in South Africa using Aquifers and Existing Infrastructure

Cited by 8 publications

References 7 publications

Parametric assessment of hydrochemical changes associated to underground pumped hydropower storage

Parametric assessment of hydrochemical changes associated to underground pumped hydropower storage

Hydrochemical changes induced by underground pumped storage hydropower and their associated impacts

Numerical study of the Martelange mine to be used as underground reservoir for constructing an Underground Pumped Storage Hydropower plant

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