Financing New Pumped Storage Development- roundtable dialogue

Come to this Roundtable Dialogue with your ideas of how we can overcome financing challenges and what is required to unlock the growth potential for new pumped storage hydro projects.

Joining the conversation will be industry executives as well as energy project financing experts to share their insights.

Discussion topics include:
(1) current market drivers for long-duration energy storage
(2) types of financial partners most interested in pumped storage hydro
(3) how financing pumped storage hydro differs compared to other types of projects
(4) what can be done to make pumped storage hydro more attractive to the financial community
(5) new development

Background:
The U.S. has the second largest pumped storage (PSH) fleet in operation in the world, with 43 plants totaling nearly 22 GW (553 GWh) of energy storage capacity. Continued rapid expansion of intermittent renewables, the desire for a zero-carbon electricity market, and the growing concern of future energy security and resiliency have led to a renewed call for long-duration energy storage (LDES) projects, including pumped storage.

While there have been over 3 GWs of new PSH capacity added to the U.S. grid in the past decade, it has all been through project upgrades at existing plants. No new PSH project has been built in the US since 2012 and no new large-scale PSH plant has been commissioned since the late 1990s.

While there continues to be a robust pipeline of new projects in the development phase, obstacles and challenges remain to allow new deployments to meet the needs of the electric power grid and investor ROIs. One of the major challenges that remains for many developers of new PSH projects is related to demonstrating a strong business case to secure project financing or a long-term power purchase agreement.

Mike Manwaring

Facilitator and Discussion Lead

Principal Hydropower and Energy Consultant at Stantec

Rachel Cortez

Conversation Starter

Associate Managing Director, Global Project & Infrastructure Finance at Moody's Ratings

Paul Jacob

Conversation Starter

Chief Executive Officer at Rye Development

Herbie Johnson

Conversation Starter

Business Development Manager, Sustainable Power Generation) at Colliers Engineering & Design

Luigi Resta

Conversation Starter

President at rPlus Hydro