PUB00037

• Year: 1988
• Title: Colorado Joint Planning Study Economic Potential of Pumped Storage
• CWCB Section: Interstate & Federal
• Author: Colorado Water Resources and Power Development Authority
• Description: Assessment of whether pumped storage facilities are economically attractive to Colorado utilities
• Publications - Doc Type: Water Resource Studies

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1988 through 2007, as well as the levelized amount for the period 2007-2037 to
complete the 50-year period of analysis.

The comparison shown on Table 4-3 presents the revenue requirements for the cases
with and without pumped storage.

Table 4-3

Comparison of Revenue Requirements Base Case
and PumDed Storage Case . Medium Load Forecast
(Millions 1988 $)

Variable Costs

Base Case

Difference From
Pumped Storage Base Case
Case MIllions S Percent

1988 through 2007
2008 through 2037
Total Variable Costs

7,332
2.248
9,580

7,392
2.430
9,822

59
ll2.
241

0.8
8.1
2.5

Fixed Costs

1988 through 2007
2008 through 2037
Total Fixed Costs

653 578 -75 -11.5
--8.56. --6.Q.3. :.1.9..3. -22.5
1,509 1,241 -268 -17.8
7,985 7,969 -16 -0.2
3104 3.093 :ll -0.4
11 ,089 11 ,062 -27 -0.2

Total Costs
1988 through 2007
2008 Through 2037
Total Costs

As would be expected, the variable costs for the pumped storage case are 2.5 percent
greater than the base case because of the additional pumping energy; however, the
fixed costs are about 17.8 percent lower, reflecting the lower capital cost assumed for
the pumped storage unit compared to the coal-fired units. Overall, $26.5 million can
be saved with the pumped storage unit priced at $1,000 per kW, over the 50-year
study period. The savings of $26.5 million or 0.2 percent are the sum of the individual
results. Since there were "negative" savings for some systems this tended to offset the
positive savings and lower overall savings. The "negative" or "positive" savings are
much more significant from an individual utility standpoint.

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