Hydrostor has announced its new venture to develop an advanced “Compressed Air Energy Storage” that could hold up to 10 GWH of energy.
The new facility will be developed in Rosamond, California, and would be home to two compressed-air energy storage. Hydrotor’s new setup will have an output of 500 MW and would store up to 4 GWh of energy.
Such technologies are the need of the time as the world shifts toward green and renewable energy to meet our energy demands all while causing the least possible damage to the environment. This technology aims at getting the carbon emissions to net-zero using its pumped hydro, huge lithium-ion batteries, tanks full of molten salt, and thermal bricks stacked up in towers.
The goal to reach zero-net emissions cannot be achieved with pumped hydro-plants, which account for 95 percent of the world’s grid energy storage. Why is that? Because it asks for mega-construction of the dams and that in itself goes against the phrase “securing our environment,” moreover, water dams also are home to rotting vegetation, which releases greenhouse gas emissions harmful for the environment. Another key method of storing large amounts of energy is mega-batteries, but the biggest of those built so far have a maximum capacity of storing 200 MW which certainly is not enough.
Having said this, another technology that could do wonders for humans to store energy all while not harming the environment is CAES (Compressed Air Energy Storage). It can store energy on a grid-scale and has the reliability of pumped hydro, and also, could be built without having a constraint on where to develop one. Previously, the largest in the category is the McIntosh Plant in Alabama, running since 1991 and has a capacity of 110 MW and 2-86 GWh.
Hydrostor Facility
The new setup by Hydrostor is set to take first place in the category, replacing the McIntosh plant with twice the capability of storing energy. It will run on an advanced version of compressed air energy storage.
Hydrostor is building the first plant in Rosamond, California which will be up and running by 2026. The second plant will also be built in California, but the exact location of it hasn’t been specified yet. Check out how these advanced compressed air energy storage plants work in the video below.
