Salt water: challenges and opportunities

Pumped-storage projects have traditionally relied on freshwater, which poses limitations, especially in arid or remote regions such as islands. The exploration of salt water as an alternative resource for pumped storage presents a compelling opportunity to overcome these limitations. However, this transition is not without its challenges, including technical, environmental and economic hurdles. This paper aims to present the key lessons learned from various applications of salt water in other industries and proposes how they can be transferred to the field of pumped storage. By focusing on corrosion, this paper also identifies specific issues and opportunities that salt water pumped-storage projects entail, providing practical solutions and recommendations.