Old Rocks
Diamond Member
- Thread starter
- #41
LOL If you were not such a political dumb ass, who sees everything through the lenses of ignorant 'Conservative' politics, you would realize you just suggested the answer to two problems. Wind and solar are intermittent, and often produce power when not needed. The plateaus are quite a vertical way above the reservoirs in many areas. Create some big lakes, and, when the pumped hydro ponds are full, pump to the lakes. This could be done in the spring runoff when there is a lot of power, both hydro and wind.westwall After the initial investment of providing the reservoirs, they are virtually free of charge. The arability of the land above underground storage is a non-issue. In the case I cited on the Columbia--the land is just not productive. The same cases can be made for any lake/river that runs through a canyon as most desert lakes do. Examples, Lake Powell in Utah, Lake Mead in NV, Lake Shasta in CA, the Snake River gorge in ID/OR, the Columbia River gorge in WA/OR. The Columbia River uses this same technology with Dams providing the drop at numerous points along its run, the largest being Grand Coulee Dam which backs up Lake Roosevelt. That dam alone provides peak energy to 11 western states while also providing irrigation for the entire southeastern portion of WA which would not be farmable. Grand Coulee refers to the natural reservoir that they pump water into for that irrigation. There are numerous ways to use the same flowing water to produce positive results without diminishing the resource.
"In the case I cited on the Columbia--the land is just not productive."
Bullshit!
There is a lot of productive land available, it is the lack of stored irrigation water to make it work is the problem.