Hydrostor Announces Australia’s First CompressedAir Energy Storage Project Secures Funding From Arena And South Australia Renewable Technology Fund
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on the Australian Energy Storage Alliance.
This is the introductory paragraph.
Hydrostor Inc., a leader in Advanced Compressed Air Energy Storage (A-CAES), is pleased to announce that its subsidiary, Hydrostor Australia Pty Ltd, has been awarded a combined total of $9 million of grant funding from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) and the Government of South Australia Renewable Technology Fund for Australia’s first A-CAES project, to be sited at a mine outside of Adelaide—the Angas Zinc Mine near Strathalbyn, currently in care and maintenance.
I’ll answer a few questions.
Who Are Hydrostor?
They appear to be a Canadian company based in Toronto according to their web site, which has this prominent statement.
Hydrostor is the world’s leading developer of Advanced Compressed Air Energy Storage (A-CAES)
projects, enabling the transition to a cleaner, more affordable and more flexible electricity grid.
There is also a video on the home page.
What Technology Do They Use?
This description is from the AESA article.
The technology works by using electricity from the grid to run a compressor, producing heated compressed air. Heat is extracted from the air stream and stored inside a proprietary thermal store preserving the energy for use later in the cycle. Compressed air is then stored in a purpose-built underground cavern, which is kept at a constant pressure using hydrostatic head from a water column. During charging, compressed air displaces water out of the cavern up a water column to a surface reservoir, and during discharge water flows back into the cavern forcing air to the surface under pressure where it is re-heated using the stored heat and then expanded through a turbine to generate electricity on demand.
An animation describing Hydrostor’s A-CAES system is available on YouTube.
I found the video worth watching, as it answered most of my questions.
Where Could Systems Be Installed?
This paragraph from the AESA article talks about the location of the energy store in South Australia.
By selecting the Terramin Angas Zinc Mine, the project will repurpose existing underground mining infrastructure as the A-CAES system’s sub-surface air storage cavern, benefiting both the electricity grid in South Australia and the local community by converting an unused brownfield site into a clean energy project that drives economic development. Hydrostor acknowledges Terramin Australia Limited’s support in developing the project and the technology’s beneficial application to South Australia.
I can think of a couple of mines in the UK, where such a system can be installed.
Conclusion
Hydrostor’s technology is standard process engineering, with all components and construction techniques well-proven in many decades of use.
I shall be watching Hydrostor with interest.
Cheesecake Energy Receives Investment From The University Of Nottingham
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on NewsAnyway.
This is the introductory paragraph.
Cheesecake Energy Limited (CEL) today announced it has received investment from the University of Nottingham to support UK-wide pilot programmes for the company’s energy storage solution.
Thse two paragraphs are a brief description of the company, their technology and what they do.
Cheesecake Energy Limited is a fast-growing startup developing energy storage at 30-40% lower cost than the current market leader, lithium ion batteries. Its system uses compressed air and thermal energy storage to achieve high efficiency, long lifetime and dramatically lower environmental impact.
Founded in 2016, the company has already established itself within the Nottingham, and wider East Midlands energy ecosystem — having secured initial interest from local councils and bus services for pilot programmes. The company is currently designing a 150 kW / 750 kWh prototype system for completion in Q4 2020 which will be deployed with a local bus depot for charging of electric buses using renewable energy.
This is the home page of their web site, which proudly announces.
The Greenest Battery In The World
We’ll see and hear that slogan many times in the next few years.
A few of my thoughts on the company.
Cheesecake Energy’s Technology
Cheesecake Energy says it uses compressed air and thermal energy storage to achieve high efficiency, long lifetime and dramatically lower environment impact.
Three other companies also use or may use compressed air to store energy.
- Highview Power – See Highview Power To Build Europe’s Largest Battery Storage System
- Form Energy – See Will The Real Form Energy Please Stand Up!
- Hydrostor – See Hydrostor Announces Australia’s First CompressedAir Energy Storage Project Secures Funding From Arena And South Australia Renewable Technology Fund
As Cheesecake appear to be using a thermal energy storage, have they found a unique way to create another type of compressed air storage?
Battery Sizes
How do the sizes of the three companies batteries compare?
- Cheesecake Energy prototype – 150 kW – 750 kWh – five hours
- Form Energy for Great River Energy – 1MW – 150 MWh – 150 hours
- Highview Power for Vermont – 50MW – 400 MWh – 8 hours
- Hydrostor for South Australia – 50+MW – 4-24+ hours
The Cheesecake Energy prototype is the smallest battery, but Highview Power built a 750 KWh prototype before scaling up.
Note.
- The first figure is the maximum power output of the battery.
- The second figure is the capacity of the battery.
- The third figure is the maximum delivery time on full power.
- The capacity for Hydrostor wasn’t given.
The figures are nicely spread out, which leas me to think, that depending on your power needs, a compressed air battery can be built to satisfy them.
Charging Electric Buses
Buses like this Alexander Dennis Enviro200EV electric bus are increasingly seen in the UK.
And they all need to be charged!
Cheesecake Energy say that their prototype will be deployed with a local bus depot for charging of electric buses using renewable energy.
- An electric bus depot should be a good test and demonstration of the capabilities of their battery and its technology.
- Note that according to this data sheet of an Alexander Dennis Enviro200EV, which is a typical single-decker electric bus, the bus is charged by BYD dual plug 2×40kW AC charging, which gives the bus a range of up to 160 miles.
- With a 150 kW output could Cheesecake’s prototype charge two buses at the same time and several buses during a working day?
- Would DC charging as used by Vivarail’s charging system for trains be an alternative?
To me, it looks like Cheesecake are showing good marketing skills.
I do wonder if this size of charger could make the finances of electric buses more favourable.
Suppose, a bus company had a fleet of up to a dozen diesel single-decker buses running services around a city or large town.
- How much would they spend on electricity, if they replaced these buses with electric ones?
- Would being able to use cheaper overnight energy to charge buses in the day, be more affordable?
- Would electric buses run from renewable electricity attract passengers to the services?
These arguments for electric buses would also apply for a company running fleets of vans and small trucks.
To me, it looks like Cheesecake are showing good engineering/marketing skills, by designing a product that fits several markets.
The Anonymous Widower 