R. Brody
Quidnet,
United States
Keywords: energy storage, long-duration, pumped hydro storage, PHS
Summary:
Traditional pumped hydro storage (PHS) is the most widely deployed form of energy storage today, accounting for over 90% of installed global storage capacity. However, due to its need for elevated terrain and decade-long project development times, PHS cannot address the rapidly evolving long-duration energy storage needs of an increasingly distributed grid with rising levels of renewables penetration. Quidnet Energy has pioneered a novel form of PHS, Geomechanical Pumped Storage (GPS), a radically low-cost, grid-scale, long-duration storage technology using the earth as a mechanical “battery.” GPS stores energy as pressurized water between layers of rock in the subsurface. The technology has structural cost advantages based on its use of mature and highly scalable supply chains and workforce skills from the oil and gas industry and has uniquely low marginal cost of energy, enabling it to achieve disruptively low capital cost. Quidnet has rapidly developed the GPS technology, taking it from the lab to the field in five different geologic settings and successfully completing hydraulic demonstrations with critical support from DOE. The company recently signed its first commercial contract, a 15-year capacity tolling agreement at CPS Energy in San Antonio, TX, the largest US municipal utility. This talk will provide a GPS technical overview, an update on progress, and a review of Quidnet’s commercial strategy.