Northeast of Livingston a groundbreaking project is ready to break ground!
The Gordon Butte Pumped Hydro Storage (GB) project is fully permitted and has recently acquired investors. The GB project makes use of a little known and barely used carbon neutral system for energy storage and generation. Once built, GB will make room for a flood of new renewable energy to be seamlessly integrated onto the MT grid.
Gordon Butte turns out to be a perfect site for pumped storage. On top of the butte, there will be one lake, and at the bottom (a drop of 1000 ft) there will be another.
Once the lakes are filled and the powerhouse constructed, GB will take energy off the grid (just a few miles away) when there is too much to run the pumps, pushing water to the upper lakes. When there is too little energy, the generators will come online and generate energy for the grid.
This adroit switching between generating and storing energy will take place within minutes, making the GB an innovator in pumped hydro storage. Keeping the right amount of electricity on the gird is critical; GB will act as a ‘shock absorber’.
Our utility tells us that renewable energy creates problems because it is unreliable; the sun stops shining at night, and wind speeds vary. GB will solve this problem, while stabilizing the grid minute to minute and generating energy. And all of this adds NO CARBON to our atmosphere.
As of this writing NWE is not negotiating with GB to buy the electricity. That’s both puzzling and frustrating.
Check out this remarkable project here: https://gordonbuttepumpedstorage.com/project-overview/what-is-pumped-storage-hydro/
-Joanie Kresich, YBCC co-chair
Sept. 2019
The Gordon Butte Pumped Hydro Storage (GB) project is fully permitted and has recently acquired investors. The GB project makes use of a little known and barely used carbon neutral system for energy storage and generation. Once built, GB will make room for a flood of new renewable energy to be seamlessly integrated onto the MT grid.
Gordon Butte turns out to be a perfect site for pumped storage. On top of the butte, there will be one lake, and at the bottom (a drop of 1000 ft) there will be another.
Once the lakes are filled and the powerhouse constructed, GB will take energy off the grid (just a few miles away) when there is too much to run the pumps, pushing water to the upper lakes. When there is too little energy, the generators will come online and generate energy for the grid.
This adroit switching between generating and storing energy will take place within minutes, making the GB an innovator in pumped hydro storage. Keeping the right amount of electricity on the gird is critical; GB will act as a ‘shock absorber’.
Our utility tells us that renewable energy creates problems because it is unreliable; the sun stops shining at night, and wind speeds vary. GB will solve this problem, while stabilizing the grid minute to minute and generating energy. And all of this adds NO CARBON to our atmosphere.
As of this writing NWE is not negotiating with GB to buy the electricity. That’s both puzzling and frustrating.
Check out this remarkable project here: https://gordonbuttepumpedstorage.com/project-overview/what-is-pumped-storage-hydro/
-Joanie Kresich, YBCC co-chair
Sept. 2019
