The Joint Legislative Air and Water Pollution Control and Conservation Committee will hold an Environmental Issues Forum January 22 on the issue of pumped storage hydroelectric facilities in Pennsylvania.

Adam Rousselle, president of Bucks County-based Merchant Hydro Developers, will discuss his company’s plans to develop 20 pumped storage facilities across the Commonwealth, some utilizing abandoned mines as water reservoirs.

Pumped storage is increasingly viewed as a way to increase grid reliability during peak times of electric consumption.

Pumped storage hydro projects generate power by moving large amounts of water between two reservoirs typically covering 100 or more acres each, one located upgradient from the other so the fall of the water from the upper reservoir drives turbines that generate electricity as it moves to the lower reservoir.

The water is then pumped back up to the upper reservoir overnight or during off-peak times to start the process all over again.

There are closed loop systems that recycle the same water over and over again and open loop systems that use primarily new water for each generation cycle.

There are two pump storage hydroelectric projects now in Pennsylvania with a generating capacity of 1,583 megawatts-- FirstEnergy Seneca, 513 MW in Kinzua Township, Warren County using 3.4 million gallons and Exelon’s Muddy Run, 1,070 MW in Drumore, Lancaster County using water from a 11.4 billion gallon lake.

There are now 5,718.3 megawatts of all types of hydroelectric power generation in the state or 3.1 percent of all electric generation capacity in Pennsylvania.

The Forum will be in Room 8E-A East Wing of the Capitol Building starting at Noon.  Click Here to watch the Forum online. 

Sen. Scott Hutchinson (R-Venango) serves as Chair of the Joint Conservation Committee.

For more information, visit the Joint Conservation Committee website, Like them on Facebook or Follow them on Twitter.  Click Here to sign up for regular updates from the Committee.

(Photo: FirstEnergy Seneca 513 MW pumped storage hydro facility in Kinzua Township, Warren County.)

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