Hydrostor

Canada-based Hydrostor develops utility-scale energy storage facilities using its proprietary adiabatic compressed air energy storage (A-CAES) technology and purpose-built underground storage caverns. 

Off-peak or surplus electricity from the grid or a renewable source is used to run a compressor that produces heated compressed air. Heat is then extracted from the air stream and stored inside a proprietary thermal storage system and the compressed air is stored in a purpose-built underground storage cavern. The compressed air is then recombined with the stored heat and expanded through a turbine to generate electricity on demand.

In January 2023, Hydrostor acquired full ownership of Silver City Energy Storage Centre, a 200 MW A-CAES project in Broken Hill, New South Wales, from Australian developer, Energy Estate. The company intended to begin construction in late 2023.

Following this in June 2023, Hydrostor opened two new offices in Australia, one in Melbourne, and one in Adelaide.

Key customers and partnerships

As of March 2024, Hydrostor has two operational projects in Canada, the larger of which is a 2.2 MW commercial system in Goderich, Ontario with a further pipeline of projects in North America, Australia, and Europe. In 2015, Hydrostor, in partnership with the Canadian utility company, Toronto Hydro, completed the development of the world’s first grid-connected A-CAES facility in Toronto (Canada), as a demonstration site for the company’s technology. In 2019, Hydrostor completed its first commercially contracted A-CAES facility in Ontario (Canada) for Ontario’s Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO). 

In April 2021, Hydrostor announced the development of 1,000 MW of long-duration energy storage in California. Following this, in July 2022, Hydrostor reported plans to develop a 500 MW A-CAES project known as “Willow Rock” in Kern County, California.

In September 2023, Hydrostor partnered with Perilya to leverage the existing mining assets at Perilya’s Potosi mine in Broken Hill to support the construction of the Silver City project. In December 2023, Hydrostor was awarded a long-term energy service agreement by AEMO Services, as part of the New South Wales (NSW) government Electricity Infrastructure Roadmap for the Silver City project. During the same month, the company partnered with Transgrid, to provide back-up power to Broken Hill starting in 2027.

Funding and financials

In October 2022, Hydrostor’s Silver City project was awarded an AUD 45 million (~USD 28.4 million) grant from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency. Prior to that, in April 2022 Hydrostor raised USD 25 million from CPP Investments. In January 2022, the company raised USD 250 million from Goldman Sachs Asset Management. The proceeds are expected to be utilized to fund the deployment of Hydrostor’s 8.7 gigawatt-hours of Advanced Compressed Air Energy Storage (A-CAES) projects in Australia and California.