In recent years, there has been growing interest in how ongoing changes to the electric power resource mix, wholesale markets, and utility operations will affect valuation of existing pumped storage hydro (PSH) plants as well as create opportunities for expansion or repowering of those plants, and construction of new PSH plants. This study conducts comparative case studies of recent and future economic benefits—and any other benefits—of three large existing PSH plants: the New York Power Authority’s (NYPA) Blenheim-Gilboa plant located in New York, and Duke Energy Carolina’s Bad Creek and Jocassee plants, both located in South Carolina. The objective is to examine the policy, market, and utility operating environment for these plants in detail, and to gather both public and certain non-public utility data on recent historical performance and forecasts of future operations. The framework shown here can then be further developed and applied to other existing PSH plants as a basis for improved communication and analysis regarding these plants’ historical and future economic costs and benefits.
