Hydrostor Seeks Approval for 3.2GWh Compressed Air Storage Facility in California – EQ Mag Pro
Approval is being sought for a 400MW Advanced Compressed Air Energy Storage (A-CAES) project with eight hours of storage to be built in California by technology provider Hydrostor.
The Canada-based company is the first in the world to have built an operational commercial facility A-CAES, a much smaller 1.75 MW project in Goderich, Ontario, with a capacity of approximately 10 MWh based on its own technologies. .
Hydrostor has filed a Certification Application with the California Energy Commission for the 400MW / 3,200MWh Pecho Energy Storage Center it wants to build in the state’s San Luis Obispo County. The Application for Certification (AFC) is the standard licensing process for power plants of 50MW or more that are within the commission’s jurisdiction.
The long-running project would be larger even than the gigawatt-hour-scale lithium-ion battery storage systems being built in California, with twice the size of the 1,600MWh Moss Landing energy storage facility. which was completed earlier this year. California’s lithium-ion battery plants also have an upper limit of four hours for which they can be inexpensive to build while capturing market opportunities.
The A-CAES technology developed by Hydrostor uses electricity to compress air which is then stored in a large underground cavern. The heat produced by the compression process is simultaneously removed as thermal storage.
Compressed air is stored at constant pressure using water tanks that provide hydrostatic compression. When electricity is needed, the system is discharged by forcing air to the surface using hydrostatic pressure. The air then combines with the stored heat and passes through turbines, generating electricity.
Hydrostor said the Pecho Energy Storage Center project would require about $ 820 million of capital investment and could be part of the state’s strategy to ease pressure to retire the 2,200MW Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant as planned for 2025.
The company said the A-CAES plant could be operational by 2026. The AFC filing triggers the California Environmental Quality Act review and permitting process, for which CEC is the lead agency. Local and federal authorities will also participate in that process.
In addition to helping to replace fossil fuels and nuclear power in the local energy mix, Hydrostor said that Pechos will also create 200 to 450 skilled labor jobs during construction and up to 40 high-paying, time-equivalent jobs. complete once operational.
Hydrostor wants to interconnect the plant to the grid at an existing Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) substation and the company said it will be well placed to utilize the area’s new and existing renewable energy facilities and help the reliability of the electrical system to prevent blackouts.
The project would be in line with a decision made by the regulator of the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to acquire 1,000MW of long-term energy storage to be put into operation between 2026 and 2028, argued Hydrostor. In fact, the company said in April that it believed California could host 15GWh of A-CAES.
A report released yesterday by the recently formed Long-Term Energy Storage Council argued that between 85TWh and 140TWh of long-term energy storage deployment worldwide by 2040 could keep the planet on the right track to limit global warming. at 1.5 ° C.
Hydrostor has several other large-scale projects under development in North America and was previously discussing construction in Australia as well. In April, Energy-Storage.news reported that the company is receiving a few million dollars in funding from the Canadian federal government to implement A-CAES technology in its home country.
Source: 6park
