Regional development potential of underground pumped storage power station using abandoned coal mines: A case study of the Yellow River Basin, China

China is gradually transforming its coal-based energy supply structure towards sustainable development, resulting in a growing number of abandoned coal mines. Underground pumped storage power stations (UPSPS) using abandoned coal mines efficiently utilize the coal mine space and promote renewable energy applications. This paper introduces a novel framework to evaluate the UPSPS regional development potential in the Yellow River Basin (YRB) from the perspective of sustainable development. A fuzzy normal cloud model based on the combined weight (FNCM-CW) is proposed to calculate the advantages and the four-quadrant method incorporating bubble diagrams is employed to merge the advantage grades. The results indicate that the construction investment, reservoir volume, transport conditions and policy support are the most important indexes affecting the regional development of UPSPS. Shanxi and Inner Mongolia have accumulated a large number of abandoned coal mine resources with shallow mining depths and high productivity. The distribution of economic, technological, environmental and social advantages in the YRB is uneven, where the upstream areas have abundant wind and solar energy resources, the midstream possesses urgent energy transformation demand and the downstream features a stronger economic foundation. The ranking result of the UPSPS regional development potential is: Shanxi > Inner Mongolia > Shandong > Henan > Ningxia > Sichuan > Shaanxi > Qinghai > Gansu. This paper provides decision support for UPSPS engineering practice and is a reference for other countries and coal-producing areas.