Lake Elsinore pumped storage and the Tehachapi wind resources

[Fledermaus]

East of Los Angeles, the US$1.1-billion 500-MW
Lake Elsinore Advanced Pumped Storage project is
being developed by Nevada Hydro Co. in partnership
with the Elsinore Valley Municipal Water
District. Its transmission system is being designed
to connect to SCE’s transmission system and will
cost US$375 million to build. A decision on
the pumped storage and transmission projects
is expected from the Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission this spring. Siemens has already been
hired to build the line.

The important aspect of this project will be
its ability to take care of the intermittent nature
of the Tehachapi wind resources. As Dariush
Shirmohammadi, the ISO’s director of regional
transmission-south, said, “Even now we are
having difficulty with wind on the system and
pumped storage will help. It will make wind
generation so much more valuable."

Tehachapi
The Tehachapi mountains in the southern
end of the great central valley of California
north of Los Angeles are judged to contain
the greatest wind resource in the state.
But minimal transmission is available there
because of its sparse population. Currently,
a little over 700 MW of wind resources are
installed and operating because of transmission
constraints. The CEC has determined
the area could support up to 4,500 MW of
wind generation.

http://www.renewableenergyfocus.com/articles/windon/features/Wind_transmission_layout.pdf