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Hydrodynamical and Hydrochemical Assessment of Pumped-Storage Hydropower (PSH) Using an Open Pit: The Case of Obourg Chalk Quarry in Belgium
- Source :
- Digital.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC, instname, Digital.CSIC: Repositorio Institucional del CSIC, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), Applied Sciences, Volume 11, Issue 11, Applied Sciences, Vol 11, Iss 4913, p 4913 (2021)
- Publication Year :
- 2021
- Publisher :
- Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute, 2021.
-
Abstract
- Pumped storage hydropower (PSH) enables the temporary storage of energy, including from intermittent renewable sources, and provides answers to the difficulties related to the mismatch between supply and demand of electrical energy over time. Implementing a PSH station requires two reservoirs at different elevations and with large volumes of water. The idea of using old, flooded open-pit quarries as a lower reservoir has recently emerged. However, quarries cannot be considered as impervious reservoirs, and they are connected to the surrounding aquifers. As a result, PSH activities may entail environmental impacts. The alternation of the pumping–discharge cycles generates rapid and periodic hydraulic head fluctuations in the quarry, which propagate into the surrounding rock media forcing the exchange of water and inducing the aeration of groundwater. This aeration can destabilize the chemical balances between groundwater and minerals in the underground rock media. In this study, two numerical groundwater models based on the chalk quarry of Obourg (Belgium) were developed considering realistic pumping–discharge scenarios. The aim of these models was to investigate the hydrodynamic and hydrochemical impact of PSH activities on water inside the quarry and in the surrounding rock media. Results showed that (1) water exchanges between the quarry and the adjacent rock media have a significant influence on the hydraulic head, (2) the frequency of the pump–discharge scenarios influence the potential environmental impacts, and (3), in the case of chalk formations, the expected impact of PSH on the water chemical composition is relatively limited around the quarry. Results highlight that those hydrogeological and hydrochemical concerns should be assessed when developing a project of a PSH installation using a quarry as a lower reservoir, considering all particularities of the proposed sites.<br />This research was supported by the Public Service of Wallonia, Department of Energy and Sustainable Building in the framework of the SMARTWATER project. IDAEA-CSIC is a Centre of Excellence Severo Ochoa (Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, Project CEX2018-000794-S). E.P. was also funded by the Barcelona City Council through the Award for Scientific Research into Urban Challenges in the City of Barcelona 2020 (20S08708)
- Subjects :
- Technology
010504 meteorology & atmospheric sciences
Energy storage system
energy storage system
02 engineering and technology
open pit
01 natural sciences
hydrochemistry
0202 electrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineering
General Materials Science
Biology (General)
Instrumentation
Hydropower
Fluid Flow and Transfer Processes
geography.geographical_feature_category
Hydrogeology
Physics
General Engineering
numerical modelling
Pumped storage hydropower
environmental impacts
Engineering (General). Civil engineering (General)
Computer Science Applications
hydropower
Chemistry
Open pit
Numerical modelling
TA1-2040
QH301-705.5
QC1-999
020209 energy
pumped storage hydropower
Aquifer
Hydraulic head
Impervious surface
QD1-999
0105 earth and related environmental sciences
Hydrology
Pumped-storage hydroelectricity
geography
business.industry
Hydrochemistry
Process Chemistry and Technology
Quarry
Environmental impacts
quarry
Environmental science
Groundwater model
business
Groundwater
Subjects
Details
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Digital.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC, instname, Digital.CSIC: Repositorio Institucional del CSIC, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), Applied Sciences, Volume 11, Issue 11, Applied Sciences, Vol 11, Iss 4913, p 4913 (2021)
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....895fc3ed390c01cc79e259857a7a83ee