[Lex Computer & Tech Group/LCTG] New England's Largest Battery Is Hidden Inside A Mass. Mountain | WBUR News

[Ted Kochanski]

All,

I know a bit about Northfield Mountain -- originally a project of Northeast
Utilities [I was a long-time shareholder] -- it was built because first gen
nuclear fission plants didn't much "like" throttling
 Essentially due south of Northfield was [and somewhat still is] one  the
"most muscular" clusters of fission reactors [Connecticut Yankee -- Hadam
Conn and Milestone 1,2,3 directly on Long Island Sound] . Essentially due
ue north was the older and and smaller Yankee atomic [Rowe MA and Vt Yankee
on the CT River]
During the day they provided much of the baseload for New England except
for Boston Metro which had Pilgrim and Seabrook] and the more remote Maine
Yankee

At night most of the nukes hads not too much to power -- so -- why not pump
some water
ERGO Norhtfield mountain -- which also provided a recreational facility --
courtesy of your friendly electric utility

Prior to the anti-nuclear craziness -- new england was on--tap for a nearly
Green Electric [and nuclear] system

Ted





On Thu, May 19, 2022 at 12:04 PM Daniel Silber <dasilber at gmail.com> wrote:

> Hello All,
>
> I went to Northfield Mountain with the M.I.T. Outing Club in Feb. 1976
> because there was a cross-country skiing center there, on top of the
> "battery".
>
> Dan
>
> On Tue, May 17, 2022 at 10:33 AM Carl Lazarus <carllazarus at comcast.net>
> wrote:
>
>> Thank you, Harry.  I am amazed that I did not know about the Northfield
>> facility.  Pumped water storage still represents over 90% of all the
>> world’s electricity storage.  The world’s largest such facility is in
>> Virginia, or was the last time I looked.  I don’t know what China has done
>> very recently.  Unfortunately, there is not a huge growth potential of
>> pumped hydro as we know it, because you need certain geography to make it
>> feasible:  an upper reservoir and a lower reservoir or running water
>> source, with enough of a height differential.  There is some interest in
>> using the height difference between underground caverns and the ground, but
>> so far it has not had much traction.
>>
>>
>>
>> Yes it is wasteful of energy, as is electrolyzing water to make hydrogen
>> as an energy storage medium and later oxidizing the hydrogen in fuel
>> cells.  However, if you have excess solar and wind energy production at
>> some times of the day/year, it is less wasteful to convert it to something
>> than to just throw it away.
>>
>>
>>
>> -- Carl
>>
>>
>>
>> *From:* LCTG <lctg-bounces+carllazarus=comcast.net at lists.toku.us> *On
>> Behalf Of *Harry Forsdick
>> *Sent:* Tuesday, May 17, 2022 8:58 AM
>> *To:* LCTG at lists.toku.us
>> *Subject:* [Lex Computer & Tech Group/LCTG] New England's Largest
>> Battery Is Hidden Inside A Mass. Mountain | WBUR News
>>
>>
>>
>> Here is a large scale battery based on the differences in cost of
>> electricity between high and low periods of demand.  Right here in
>> Massachusetts!
>>
>>
>>
>> — Harry
>>
>>
>>
>> https://www.wbur.org/news/2016/12/02/northfield-mountain-hydroelectric-station
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