Hydrostor, a developer of Advanced Compressed Air Energy Storage (A-CAES) projects, in partnership with NRStor Incorporated, a Canadian energy storage project developer, has announced the completion of the Goderich A-CAES Facility, located in Goderich, Ont. The plant, which was selected as an Energy Storage North America 2019 Innovation Award Winner, “represents a pivotal advancement in long-duration energy storage and a world first in the successful commercialization of fuel-free (adiabatic) CAES technology.”

Hydrostor’s A-CAES technology works by using electricity from the grid to run an air compressor, producing heated compressed air. The heat is extracted from the air stream and is stored for later use on discharge. The cooled compressed air is then stored underground until the grid requires dispatchable energy capacity. At that time, the air is brought back to the surface, where it re-collects the stored heat, and is expanded through an air turbine to generate power on demand.

The Goderich A-CAES Facility is commercially contracted to Ontario’s Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO) for peaking capacity, ancillary services and full participation in the merchant energy market to support grid reliability. Described as entirely fuel-free, the plant “produces zero greenhouse gas emissions, and helps to enable a cleaner, more affordable and more flexible electricity grid.”

“New technologies are changing the way we keep the lights on for Ontarians,” said Peter Gregg, President and CEO, IESO. “NRStor and Hydrostor’s Compressed Air Energy Storage project…will help us further understand how these unique resources can best integrate with Ontario’s market and system operations, and drive down costs for consumers.”

The project is a first-of-its-kind utility-scale commercial application of A-CAES technology, conforming to all interconnection, uptime, performance and dispatch standards as set out by the IESO. It also has 1.75 MW of peak power output, a 2.2 MW charge rating and 10+ MWh of storage capacity.

“This facility serves as an important proof point for A-CAES on the global stage, enabling the build-out of Hydrostor’s full-scale project pipeline in Canada, the USA, Chile, Australia and other markets,” added Hydrostor CEO Curtis VanWalleghem.

The project was supported by Export Deveopment Canada (EDC) and received funding from Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC), which works with Canadian companies to bring clean technologies to market. In addition, project funding was provided by the Government of Ontario through the Ontario Centres of Excellence (OCE).