Can mountain lakes be our batteries?

This story is part of The Salt Lake Tribune’s ongoing commitment to identify solutions to Utah’s biggest challenges through the work of the Innovation Lab.[Subscribe to our newsletter here]Give to the mountains, and the mountains will give back.That is the essence of pumped hydro storage, which is poised to be a significant player in Utah’s move toward sustainable renewable energy.Hydroelectric power was the country’s largest source of clean energy when the turbines were turned on at Hoover Dam (then Boulder Dam) in the 1930s.But hydropower depends on the clouds to feed the reservoirs behind hydroelectric dams, and that is getting harder in the drought-stricken West.With pumped hydro storage, solar panels and windmills do the work of the clouds. When the sun is shining or the wind is blowing, they can power a pump to push water from a lower reservoir to an upper reservoir….

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