Pumped storage hydropower can significantly reduce the need for expensive new power lines by making better use of the existing electrical grid. According to the authors of the newly released report, placing these “water batteries” near power plants or major cities allows them to manage electricity flow more efficiently, bypassing the need for multi-billion dollar construction projects.
The report states that pumped storage “expands effective transfer capability without the need to build expensive and time-consuming new transmission wires.” Furthermore, the technology serves as a dual-purpose asset, “unlocking incremental load growth in regions where building new transmission or baseload generation would take a decade or more.”
Essentially, pumped storage acts as a giant buffer for the power grid. By storing extra energy when it isn’t needed and releasing it during busy times, these facilities allow current wires to carry more power than they otherwise could. This means that instead of spending years and huge amounts of money building massive new stretches of power lines, utility companies can use pumped storage to get more out of the infrastructure that is already in place.
The report “Winning the AI Race: Tapping into Pumped Storage Hydropower” was published by the National Hydropower Association in March 2026. Produced by the association’s policy experts in Washington, D.C., the document provides a strategic roadmap for leveraging long-duration energy storage to meet the surging power demands of data centers and advanced manufacturing.
