Prospects for pumped storage in the Americas: 2050

Global energy demand in 2050 will probably be very different from the situation today. The most appropriate river management approaches may also be very different, and these could justify new approaches for the utilization of many large, existing systems. This paper proposes various future scenarios with the aim of highlighting some significant opportunities for optimizing the use of rivers, improving the impact on the environment at existing and future reservoirs, and for reducing CO2 emissions.