Hoover dam morphs into a clean battery 

Now  is the aim for the 21st-century challenge: turning the dam into a  reservoir of excess electricity, fed by the solar farms and wind turbines. The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, wants to equip a $3 billion pipeline and a pump station powered by solar and wind energy. The pump station aides to  regulate water flow through the dam’s generators. This  sends water  to the top to  manage electricity at times of peak demand. The  result would be energy storage. The target to complete is 2028, and may encourage further innovations at other dams. This  proposal will have to face up to political obstacles, which adds to environmental concerns and to those who use the river for drinking, recreation and services.
 

On federal land

The  Hoover dam lives on on federal land and operates under the Bureau of Reclamation, which is part of the Interior Department. This   bureau must support this proposal prior for  it to proceed. “We’re aware of the concept, but at this point our regional management has not seen the concept in enough detail to know where we would stand on the overall project,” said Doug Hendrix, a bureau spokesman. If the bureau agrees to consider the project, the National Park Service will assess the environmental, scientific and aesthetic influence on the recreation area. If the Los Angeles utility receives approval, Park Service officials have  said that the agency requests that the pumping operation be invisible to the public. This request then requires an additional engineering feat.
Environmentalists have insisted that Los Angeles cease using fossil fuels and create  electricity from alternative sources. And Mayor Garcetti said he’d like his city to be the first in the nation to operate solely on clean energy, while maintaining a reliable electric system. “Our challenge is: How do we get to 100 percent green?” he said. “Storage helps. There’s no bigger battery in our system than Hoover Dam.”
 

Grudges live on 

But pain is still evident for some along the Colorado. A coal-fired power plant in Laughlin was shut down in 2006, costing 500 jobs and causing the local economies to buckle.  The decision to close the coal plant angered many.  Mr. Hardy is suspicious to large city promises. The Department of Water and Power has treated Nevada. He notes that a security guard at the old coal plant site once refused to return a ball to children after it bounced over the property’s fence. The guard  told the kids’s parents that they could file a claim to get it back. The process that would take two to three years. “Not the kindest neighbor,” Mr. Hardy said.

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