Riverbank Power Corporation (Riverbank) has received permission to begin study for 1 gigawatt (GW) underground pumped storage plant in New Jersey. Riverbank will begin a detailed site investigation study and formal environmental assessment of the site. The lower reservoir will be about 610 m below the flooded quarry. On receipt of permissions and approvals, the company aims to invest $2 billion on the project. The construction will take four years, and the project will be completed by 2015.
The independent power producer, in US, has signed a deal with Sparta, to study the use of the Limecrest Quarry and bedrock below to form the upper and lower reservoirs of a “closed-loop” pumped storage system.
Riverbank, backed by Blackrock, aims to build at least five closed-loop pumped storage plants, each with installed capacity of 1 GW, in North America. The system design is branded “Aquabank”.
The local government authority and Limecrest Quarry developers are collaborating in the studies for the project.