Underground Pumped Storage Hydroelectric Using Salt Domes

Pumped storage hydroelectric (PSH) is the backbone of energy storage projects worldwide. The problem is that PSH requires two bodies of water with high elevation difference to make it worthwhile to store electricity efficiently. This limits where PSH can be installed. And the flat topology of the US gulf coast states makes PSH unusable in this region.A new approach relocates the upper and lower reservoirs into salt dome caverns at different elevations with the turbine/pumps installed on the surface. Compressed air would be used to raise the surface pressure of the working fluid. The annuluses of the wells accessing the caverns would be used to allow the compressed air to flow between the caverns. The brine strings would then connect to the pump/turbine. From the pump/turbine standpoint, it is the same as normal PSH with the exception that the fluid is saturated brine.