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

Tue May 24 19:55:05 PDT 2022

I agree that it is a shame we have been moving away from nuclear electricity.  It is not perfect, but it beats gas.

Maybe a next generation of nuclear will gain acceptance, but it is years away.

-- Carl

From: Ted Kochanski <tedpkphd at gmail.com> 
Sent: Tuesday, May 24, 2022 7:31 PM
To: Daniel Silber <dasilber at gmail.com>
Cc: Carl Lazarus <carllazarus at comcast.net>; LCTG at lists.toku.us
Subject: Re: [Lex Computer & Tech Group/LCTG] New England's Largest Battery Is Hidden Inside A Mass. Mountain | WBUR News

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 <mailto: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 <mailto: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 <mailto: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 <mailto: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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