# How is electricity used for pumped storage hydro counted in Scope 2?

Canonical: https://senseible.earth/answers/pumped-storage-hydro-electricity-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.

- [Battery storage and Scope 2](https://senseible.earth/answers/does-battery-storage-reduce-scope-2-emissions)
- [Residual mix factor India](https://senseible.earth/answers/residual-mix-factor-india-market-based-scope-2)

Sources: [GHG Protocol Scope 2 Guidance](https://ghgprotocol.org/scope-2-guidance), [International Energy Agency](https://www.iea.org)

Last reviewed 2026-10-22.