【精英翻譯】的部落格

The $3 Billion Plan to Turn Hoover Dam Into a Giant Battery 30億美元胡佛大壩變超大電池

精英翻譯社轉自: https://paper.udn.com/udnpaper/POH0067/330084/web/

文／Ivan Penn

譯／陳韋廷

Hoover Dam helped transform the American West, harnessing the force of the Colorado River — along with millions of cubic feet of concrete and tens of millions of pounds of steel — to power millions of homes and businesses. It was one of the great engineering feats of the 20th century.

胡佛水壩幫忙改造了美國西部，利用了科羅拉多河的力量及數百萬立方英尺混凝土和數千萬磅的鋼鐵，為數百萬戶家庭和企業提供電力。它是20世紀偉大工程壯舉之一。

Now it is the focus of a distinctly 21st-century challenge: turning the dam into a vast reservoir of excess electricity, fed by the solar farms and wind turbines that represent the power sources of the future.

現在，它成了純屬21世紀的一項挑戰的焦點：將水壩變成一個過剩電力的巨大蓄電庫，由代表未來電力來源的太陽能電場與風力發電機供電。

The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, an original operator of the dam when it was erected in the 1930s, wants to equip it with a $3 billion pipeline and a pump station powered by solar and wind energy. The pump station, downstream, would help regulate the water flow through the dam’s generators, sending water back to the top to help manage electricity at times of peak demand.

洛杉磯水電局是水壩在1930年代建成時的原始營運業者，希望為它裝上一條價值30億美元的水道，以及一個由太陽能和風能驅動的抽水站。這個位於下游的抽水站，將幫忙調節通過水壩發電機的水流，將水送回頂部來協助在需求高峰時期管理電力。

The net result would be a kind of energy storage — performing much the same function as the giant lithium-ion batteries being developed to absorb and release power.

最終結果將是一種能源儲存形式，功能跟目前正在開發的能吸收與釋放電力的巨大鋰電池大致相同。

The Hoover Dam project may help answer a looming question for the energy industry: how to come up with affordable and efficient power storage, which is seen as the key to transforming the industry and helping curb carbon emissions.

胡佛水壩計畫可能有助於解決能源產業一個迫在眉睫的問題，亦即如何提出平價和有效的電力儲存方式，而這被視為改造能源產業及協助遏制碳排放的關鍵。

Because the sun does not always shine, and winds can be inconsistent, power companies look for ways to bank the electricity generated from those sources for use when their output slacks off. Otherwise, they have to fire up fossil-fuel plants to meet periods of high demand.

太陽不會天天露臉，風的大小有無也難保穩定，因此電力公司需設法儲存從這些來源產生的電力，以便在產量減少時使用，否則，他們必須啟動化石燃料發電廠以滿足尖峰時段的需求。

And when solar and wind farms produce more electricity than consumers need, California utilities have had to find ways to get rid of it — including giving it away to other states — or risk overloading the electric grid and causing blackouts.

當太陽能與風力電場產生的電力超過消費者需求時，加州公用事業公司必須設法把多餘的量處理掉，包括轉送到其他州，否則恐使電網超載導致停電。

“I think we have to look at this as a once-in-a-century moment,” said Mayor Eric Garcetti of Los Angeles. “So far, it looks really possible. It looks sustainable, and it looks clean.”

洛杉磯市長賈西迪說：「我認為我們必須把這看成百年一遇的時刻。到目前為止，看起來確實有可能，看起來是永續且乾淨的。」

The target for completion is 2028, and some say the effort could inspire similar innovations at other dams. Enhancing energy storage could also affect plans for billions of dollars in wind projects being proposed by billionaires Warren Buffett and Philip Anschutz.

But the proposal will have to contend with political hurdles, including environmental concerns and the interests of those who use the river for drinking, recreation and services.

目標是在2028年完成，有些人認為這項努力可能會激發其他水壩做出類似的創新。強化能源儲存也可能對億萬富翁巴菲特和安舒茲提出的數十億美元風電計畫造成影響。然而此案將不得不面對政治阻礙，包括環保問題及靠這條河流提供飲水、娛樂與各種服務者的利益。

In Bullhead City, Arizona, and Laughlin, Nevada — sister cities on opposite sides of the Colorado, about 90 miles south of the dam — water levels along certain stretches depend on when dams open and close, and some residents see a change in its flow as a disruption, if not a threat.

位在水壩以南約90英里處、隔著科羅拉多河相望的姊妹市─亞利桑那州布爾海德市及內華達州勞夫林市，某些河段水位取決於水壩開啟與關閉的時間，有些居民認為，水流的改變是一種攪擾，甚至是個威脅。