Rye Development secured a federal license to build a massive new pumped hydro energy storage facility in Washington state. The company could become the first to construct this type of grid megaproject in the U.S. since 1995.
Long before lithium-ion batteries reshaped the power sector, utilities stored electricity by pumping water uphill when energy was abundant and later letting it descend, turning turbines to generate power when needed. This technique depends on gravity and heavy construction, and the U.S. pumped hydro fleet got built when utilities could unilaterally invest in long-term assets. In the country's modern, largely deregulated, and rapidly changing power markets, nobody has pulled off the expensive and time-consuming feat.
Until now potentially. On Thursday, Rye secured a license from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to build and operate a planned pumped storage project just north of the Columbia River Gorge, near the town of Goldendale (population 3,500). It's the final regulatory step, meaning that Rye can now finalize plans and begin building.
