How is electricity used for pumped storage hydro counted in Scope 2?
The operator buys grid power to pump water uphill, so that power is the operator's Scope 2. Only part of it comes back when the water is released; round-trip efficiency is typically around 70 to 80 percent, so losses add to the operator's footprint. Customers count the power they buy at their usual grid factor.
Operator
- Pumping electricity: Scope 2, by the location-based grid factor.
- Market-based: only with contracts or certificates for the pumping power.
- Generation sold back is not subtracted from Scope 2.
Buyers
A factory buying stored power under a contract uses the factor that contract supports; otherwise it uses the grid factor.
What Senseible does here
Senseible reads bills, fuel invoices and production records into dated, fingerprinted records, so the figure you send a buyer can be traced to its documents.
Sources: GHG Protocol Scope 2 Guidance, International Energy Agency
Last reviewed 2026-10-22.