[dila813]

why don’t they just use a gas generator? It doesn’t use as much power and can be switched on when ever needed.

[expatpat]

The point is to take power out and store it when it's not needed on the grid, so you can use it during peak-need times.

Analogy: your car battery stores energy during driving periods, so it's available for the heavy-current need when starting the engine. Your alternator-battery system loses energy, but it's still a big net value compared with hand-cranking the car engine, as in pre-WWII days.

[Pontiac]

This is being developed as a way to story energy for when wind turbines are not active.

why don’t they just use a gas generator? It doesn’t use as much power and can be switched on when ever needed.

The Seneca project has been on the planning boards for about 20 years. It was originally planned when gas was expensive and old coal plants were getting expensive to run to supply electricity during peak demand periods (usually during the day)

The idea was to run your efficient big plants at 100% round the clock and use excess production from the large modern plants to pump up the reservoir at night. Then run the hydro generators during the day to produce for peak demand.

What this article is doing is trying to produce interest in completing the project as a Green Technology project.

[bert]

It also works for Nuclear generators with output that can’t be as carefully output controlled

They power the pumps at night when other load is less