The vast majority of the 60,000 megawatts of proposed “water batteries” in the United States are planned for the Western region of the country. According to the authors of the newly released report, approximately 85 percent of this potential energy storage capacity is situated within the Western Interconnection to help meet the growing power demands of the Pacific coast and Rocky Mountain states.
The report states that “Eighty projects are currently pending in the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission licensing pipeline, 85% of which are located in the West where the power is needed most.” It further specifies that “Many proposed pumped storage facilities are located near major Western load centers, including Phoenix, Salt Lake City, Portland, and California’s coastal metros.”
In simpler terms, these “water batteries”—technically known as pumped storage hydropower—are primarily being planned for the American West to support regions where electricity use is expected to jump significantly over the next decade. Developers are placing these projects near major cities and high-traffic power lines to act as a massive backup system that ensures a steady flow of electricity for new technology centers even when other energy sources are unavailable.
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.
