Klickitat PUD in Washington is kicking around the idea of a pumped storage facility in Goldendale which would consist of two ponds and a generating facility. During off-peak hours, water would be pumped from the lower pond to the upper pond, then run through turbines to generate power at peak load intervals.
That actually seems like a pretty workable solution.
By contrast, here in Oregon a strong case can be made for waving goodbye to ocean energy, as in the past seven years, the state's dumped $12 million in taxpayer money into various hairball "ocean energy" schemes, not one of which has returned a nickel's worth of power.
The Oregon Wave Energy Trust (OWET) is a nonprofit, public-private partnership established by the Oregon State Legislature that works to “responsibly develop ocean energy by connecting stakeholders, supporting research and development, and engaging in public outreach and policy work.” Since its inception in 2007, OWET has received nearly $12 million dollars in public funding from the Oregon Innovation Council (Oregon InC), another government-sponsored entity. OregonInC claims its initiatives must earn a profit, but that is clearly not the case with OWET. None of the money spent to date by OWET has led to any profitability.
Washington state, like Oregon, has been dominated by Democratics for years - but unlike here, Washington's Democratics don't plunk millions in taxpayer dollars into ocean energy, solar cell plants, and battery manufacturers that never get off the ground.
