Quote:
Originally Posted by Neil
Hydroelectric plants like the one in Wales are used to sort of store electricity. When they have spare power they pump water up the hill, when they need electricity the water up the hill turns the turbines on its way back down.
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That's not storing electricity- it's storing
water so you can use it to generate
part of the electricity you used to pump it back up in the first place.
They don't have 'spare' power- they buy cheap electricity at night rates from conventional power stations to pump the water up and sell electricity to the grid during the day when it's needed at higher rates- that's how they pay for themselves.