A reversable pump-turbine is not significantly different from a standard hydro generation turbine, and there are tons of examples of those operating in cold regions.
> Are there extant succesful examples of pumped hydro in cold regions?
There's some pumped hydro at Niagara falls in Canada, which is far enough North that it should see a bit of a that/freeze cycle but is still a relatively mild climate.
Don't know anything about what issues this does/doesn't present to them, just happen to know it exists.
For reference, Niagara Falls is at roughly the same latitude as Barcelona and Milan. Vääksy, Finland, is approximately 1,250 miles (2k km) north of there, slightly north of Anchorage, Alaska.
Some of the hydro power is run-of-river hydro power stations, which has lower flow when it is cold.
I imagine the thaw/freeze cycle would be hell on the equipment to run pumped hydro storage.
Are there extant succesful examples of pumped hydro in cold regions?
You have Juktan in northern Sweden which was pumped hydro from 1978-1996, and now they want to re-build it back into pumped hydro again https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juktans_kraftstation
A reversable pump-turbine is not significantly different from a standard hydro generation turbine, and there are tons of examples of those operating in cold regions.
> Are there extant succesful examples of pumped hydro in cold regions?
There's some pumped hydro at Niagara falls in Canada, which is far enough North that it should see a bit of a that/freeze cycle but is still a relatively mild climate.
Don't know anything about what issues this does/doesn't present to them, just happen to know it exists.
For reference, Niagara Falls is at roughly the same latitude as Barcelona and Milan. Vääksy, Finland, is approximately 1,250 miles (2k km) north of there, slightly north of Anchorage, Alaska.
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Surely the turbines could be fed from subsurface water that is not frozen.