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October 14 -17, 2025 • Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

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Pumped Storage Hydro – classroom presentations

CLEAN CURRENTS 2025

Time: 2:30 PM - 3:30 PM

Day: 10/15/2025

Room Number: Classroom Presentations Room

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Presentations are:

Geospatial Data Solutions for Pumped Storage Hydropower Plant from Siting and Design to Construction and Operations, presented by Adam Feigl, HDR

Next-Generation Pumped Storage: 400 MW with Near-Zero Surface Disruption, presented by Sean Ellenson, McMillen, Inc.

Pumped Hydro - the Challenges for Developers and Engineers in Repurposing Mine Voids, presented by Brendan Henry, GHD

Details about each presentation and the speakers are below:

Geospatial Data Solutions for Pumped Storage Hydropower Plant from Siting and Design to Construction and Operations
Presented by Adam Feigl, HDR


Geospatial data solutions are an affordable, intuitive, broadly accessible, and powerful tool for new conventional and pumped storage hydroelectric project development. This classroom session will provide technical practitioners and higher-level decision makers alike with an overview of current technologies and best practices from recent large-scale site screening and project development efforts.

The presentation will focus on, but not be limited to, web-based geographic information systems (GIS) dashboards and two- and three-dimensional applications that aid in the visual communication of ongoing site activity, from concept design through operations. GIS dashboards can be used to integrate project management solutions with information management system technologies, for the benefit of all project stakeholders.

The following phases of project development and corresponding geospatial data solutions will be explored during this interactive classroom session:

First, we will discuss how geospatial technology can be utilized in identifying potentially viable site alternatives for future Pumped Storage Hydropower facilities. A custom criteria matrix is developed based on political and physical constraints and opportunities. This matrix is coupled with topographic spatial analysis aids in finding these potential site alternatives leading to a refinement phase. This refinement phase calculates conceptual upper and lower reservoir volumetric capacities by geospatial means within GIS.

Next, we will explore hydroelectric plant design and the interoperability of design software (e.g., AutoCAD, MicroStation, BIM modeling) and other software platforms within GIS. From this synthesis of geotechnical, environmental, and conceptual site information developed from multiple site project stakeholders, we can develop a visual communication tool utilizing web-based GIS geospatial data solutions. This tool will help maintain a “single source of truth” to de-risk projects, increase efficiency and timeliness, and maintain high-quality standards across the project site.

Last, we will conclude with how geospatial data solutions can benefit the site construction and operations phases of projects. From construction management and field surveying to daily operations and safety, GIS can be populated with a vast array of dynamic and static information. A GIS dashboard with its origins in site screening can ultimately become a secure daily visual resource and data repository for real-time access to project design drawings, permit documentation, daily construction reports, and other owner operations dashboards.

Opportunities and methods for interaction within this classroom presentation will include visual demonstration of geospatial data solutions for project development phases, case study analysis, and Q&A.

Next-Generation Pumped Storage: 400 MW with Near-Zero Surface Disruption
Presented by Sean Ellenson, McMillen, Inc.


The Mokelumne Pumped Storage Project is an innovative new 400 MW facility being developed in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California to support the integration of renewable energy, enhance grid stability, and advance the state's climate goals. Designed as a sustainable, large-scale energy storage solution, the project provides 3,200 MWh of storage capacity while minimizing environmental impact.

The project's development has included facility sizing and layout, operational modeling, and FERC licensing from the preliminary permit stage through the final license application. The facility is designed to exist almost entirely underground, utilizing lake taps within two existing reservoirs, with a permanent surface disturbance of less than 1.8 acres.

This presentation will provide an in-depth look at the project scope, key design challenges, and technical considerations, as well as insights into minimizing environmental impacts and streamlining the FERC licensing process through optimized engineering design. Attendees will gain valuable lessons from the project's innovative approach to the engineering of a pumped storage project in a highly regulated environment.

Pumped Hydro - the Challenges for Developers and Engineers in Repurposing Mine Voids
Presented by Brendan Henry, GHD


GHD has undertaken more than 10 Pumped Hydro studies on a range of mine sites (some closed and some at the end of extraction) for projects ranging from 100MW to 1,500MW, and up to 12h storage. Kidston PHES, designed by a JV of GHD and Mott MacDonald, is well advanced in construction with commissioning in 2026 but would appear to be the only mine void PHES under construction globally.

The conclusions for most studies are mixed, as we have found with developing and constructing projects on mine sites. On the other hand, we contend that the challenges and risks of mine site developments are broadly similar to any other site but just made more acute by the intrinsic nature of mines and mining as an industrial activity. This presentation addresses the joys and sorrows of trying to take advantage of these readymade storages from a real life view of what makes them attractive and fraught - complex and adverse geology, water management and contamination, remoteness and access, environmental disturbance and regulatory complexity – and why we believe with careful screening, further viable projects could be developed.

Mines voids are ubiquitous and singularly unattractive. Many are remote and polluted. All have complex anomalous geology, from which the extractable wealth derives. But on the flip side, they can offer a simpler road to pumped storage development and permitting. Regulators and mine owners are keen to make the sites safe and productive post mining and over the long term. The sites often have land available for co-located solar and/or wind and often have existing water, transmission and human resources nearby.

The presentation will provide an overview of some of the benefits and issues related to turning mine voids into pumped storage schemes presenting views from engineering, mine owners and developers perspectives that can be directly applicable to developing pumped storage from mine voids in North America.

Presenters

Image of Pumped Storage Hydro – classroom presentations
Katia Debian

Session Leader

Hydro Account Leader - Southeast USA at GE Vernova

Image of Pumped Storage Hydro – classroom presentations
Adam Feigl

Speaker

Senior GIS Analyst at HDR

Image of Pumped Storage Hydro – classroom presentations
Sean Ellenson

Speaker

Managing Engineer at McMillen, Inc.

Image of Pumped Storage Hydro – classroom presentations
Brendan Henry

Speaker

Practice Leader - Tunnels, Senior Technical Director - Tunnels and Hydro at GHD

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