I watched a video of using water reservoirs as a “battery” to be emptied in peak demand of electricity with the water driving a generator to produce electricity. In off peak times time the water would be pumped back into the reservoir. All this with a 20% loss of potential energy on each cycle. So my question is where does the 20% come from to keep this water battery cycling.
You overbuild the generation side of things.
It’s still a pipe dream for taking us to a total wind and solar future. No was are you ever going to be able to build sufficient reservoir capacity to cover for a string of cloudy and windless days.
You can run modern civilization on wind and solar.
The pumped storage is a mechanism for using electricity generated at night and off peak hours to pump water up to a resevoir. During peak hours, the water can be released back to the river where the hydroelectric generators produce electricity.
Nuclear generators can’t be throttled so pumped storage along with a nuclear plant is an ideal solution.
A good example of success are the Sequoyah Nuclear Plant, the Racoon Mountain Pumped Storage facility and the Nickajack Dam.
I've seen a loss of 3% to 7% with charging and pulling from my home solar batteries. I have no doubt that temperature is a factor. I agree with you that a 20% loss of any energy storage is ridiculous. But as far as where that extra energy comes from, it comes from the excess energy on days you have more energy coming in than you consume. That's not a perfect solution. But as far as making this freedom loving American a little less dependent on things the government overregulates (like energy), it's working for me.