Series Introduction I’ve talked about, and perhaps at least put some bounds on, the dollar cost of EPS. Now it’s time to try to quantify the benefits. I’ll approach that from two different angles: 1. How much storage do we Read More

Series Introduction EPS is built around moving water, in the desert. There are bound to be some challenges. (Of course, it uses the same water over and over, and it doesn’t kill any fish.) Water Required I’ve said that the Read More

Series Introduction The most radical difference between conventional pumped storage and EPS is the latter’s use of hundreds or thousands of mini-reservoirs—bags—which rest on top of the landscape, instead of two monolithic, sunk-in reservoirs made of materials like concrete and Read More

Series Introduction One of the core claims I’ve made for EPS is that it will be very inexpensive. So far, I haven’t made a case for that. It’s time to scratch the surface of this large and complex subject. The Read More

Series Introduction I’ve stated that the reason it’s possible to locate bags at somewhat different elevations within a storage field is the transient valves—remote-controlled shutoff valves in the feed tubes for every bag. How does that work? I’ll look at Read More

Series Introduction In a recent post, I mentioned that the water storage aspect of EPS is very unconventional, while the rest is very conventional. Those two aspects are also very different in terms of the water pressures they deal with, Read More

Series Introduction The EPS system divides neatly into two subsets. One subset is unconventional: the water storage systems at the top and bottom. These systems are different from normal reservoirs in every way. The other subset is the powerhouse components Read More

Series Introduction A real-world example will make it much easier to visualize what the numbers are trying to tell us. At this point, we don’t need to design a full system down to the smallest details. I would like to Read More