5.3 HPSR 01-16-2014 - Laserfiche WebLink

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But the council sought other, more creative alternatives. Councilor Paul Bakken suggested 4110 the city simultaneously use it as a cell phone tower and large-scale hydro-battery, which converts stored water in the tower into energy via gravity and a turbine. Mayor Mike Maguire wondered whether the tower should maintained and converted into a public art installation, with community input on the final designs for the structure. In the end, the council took no action, but asked Matthys to dig deeper into the feasibility of various options. Maguire also suggested the council seek input from the public on potential uses for the tower. "It would be a shame not to take a month or two to shake the tree and see what falls out," Bakken said. What should the city do with the Sperry Water Tower? Post your ideas in the comment section below. . May 15, 2013 at 12:20 PM Keep the tower. I would be in favor of the hydro-battery idea, as long as the turbine is quiet. VERY quiet. Paul Carlyon May 15, 2013 at 12:41 PM Google "abandoned water towers" - lots of possibilities. Put it on EBay Joe Cesarek May 15, 2013 at 02:59 PM Keep the tower - paint a old town mural on it and make it a place to stop and remember the good old days its historic and the cell compnaies can help pay for the upgrade. • Kirk Walztoni May 16, 2013 at 01:45 AM Hmmm, so use energy to pump the ware into the tower, then convert the stored energy through a turbine at low efficiency? Someone needs a physics lesson. Paul Bakken May 16, 2013 at 03:11 PM Kirk, you are absolutely correct that pumped hydro loses energy in the storage and conversion process. Broadly speaking, pumped hydro can achieve anywhere from 50% to 70% effective conversion of the "useable electricity put in" to "useable electricity taken out." It depends on design and components, mostly. From a physics/chemistry standpoint, ANY conversion of energy from one form to another or to potential energy results in an efficiency loss. So, the reality that pumped hydro is not highly efficient should not come as a surprise to anyone. However (and this is the main point), the ECONOMICS of power generation, transmission, and storage can result in pumped hydro being a desirable application. First off, pumped hydro is usually used as a peak-load shedding generator. That is, water is pumped into the reservoir using off-peak, cheap power. The hydro generator is then placed on demand call by the G&T to operate during peak demand times. The price differential in the MISO market between peak and off-peak power, and the comparative costs for running other types of peak load generators (usually diesel) is where pumped hydro can find value. Moreover, recent changes in State law have placed additional mandates on entities such as Xcel regarding cleaner power generation. Accordingly, it is possible that a G&T like Xcel would choose to operate a pumped hydro battery even at an internal economic loss, because of regulatory compliance pressures and clean energy credits. •