The seasonal and variable electricity production of renewable sources, such as wind and solar power, needs to be compensated by resources that can guarantee a reliable supply of power at all times. As the penetration of variable renewable energy increases globally for economic reasons, so do the requirements for additional sources of flexible operation. The permanent balance between demand and supply of electricity is one of the reasons of the increased interest on energy storage systems in recent years. By far, the largest technology used globally to this end is Pump Hydro Storage (PHS) because of the fast response of power, large storage capacity and competitiveness. PHS project are highly site specific, and the selection and design of these projects is critical. In this article, an integer programming problem is formulated for their siting and sizing. The approach is to select grid cells from a Digital Elevation Model (DEM) that will conform reservoirs of PHS to meet minimum storage requirements. The objective function includes the costs of embankments, water conveyance systems, and electromechanical equipment. The model can be executed for different instances of DEM, and the best local solutions can be aggregated to provide regional or national requirements of power systems.
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