Hydropower Information >> General Information >> Pumped Storage Database Benefits of pumped storage, by Hiroshi Tanaka This article focuses on the rationale for Pumped Storage, explaining the benefits to the general public. The author wishes to thank Dr. Capell Aris, Chairman of the IHA Pumped Storage Committee for his comments and suggestions. The author can be contacted by email The Author Mr. Tanaka is a Technical Adviser for Toshiba Corporation in Japan. He graduated from the University of Tokyo, Japan, in Mechanical Engineering in 1956. He has served with Toshiba Corporation since then. During his first 20 years of service, he worked in Research & Development of both conventional turbines and reversible pump-turbines. He became the Chief Engineer in charge of hydraulic machinery in 1987, supervising all R&D, design and manufacturing of hydraulic turbines. Currently, he serves as Technical Adviser for Toshiba. He is a member of several of organisations, such as: JSME (Japanese Society of Mechanical Engineers), TSJ, the Visualization Society of Japan, IAHR and IHA. Mr. Tanaka was awarded an honorary membership by the IHA in 2001 for his contribution to hydropower development and he was a IHA board member and the inaugural Chair of the IHA Permanent Committee on Pumped Storage.