- Advanced compressed air energy storage (A-CAES) company Hydrostor has signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) for one of its large-scale flagship projects in California.
- In an interview with this site at the start of 2022, Hydrostor CEO Curtis VanWalleghem explained that the A-CAES technology differs from its ‘non-advanced’ existing compressed air counterpart in eliminating the need for thermal power to heat the compressed air to push it through turbines.
Advanced compressed air energy storage (A-CAES) company Hydrostor has signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) for one of its large-scale flagship projects in California. Central Coast Community Energy, one of California’s several dozen Community Choice Aggregator (CCA) non-profit energy suppliers, has signed a 200MW/1,600MWh energy storage PPA with a 25-year term with Toronto-headquartered Hydrostor for its Willow Rock Energy Storage Center. This is under half of the output and capacity of the planned 8-hour, long-duration energy storage (LDES) facility, designed to be 500MW/4,000MWh and its first off-take deal. However, the company is discussing others to take the rest of the plant’s available resources.
The Canadian company holds the IP for its technology and develops projects internationally, having delivered one commercial-scale demonstration project in its home country. It is currently working on large-scale projects with around 9GWh storage capacity across two sites in California and another in Australia. Along with Willow Rock in Kern County, Hydrostor is developing the 400MW/3,200MWh Pechos Energy Storage Center in San Luis Obispo County, California, and the 200MW/1,500MWh Silver City Energy Storage Center in Broken Hill, New South Wales, Australia.
In an interview with this site at the start of 2022, Hydrostor CEO Curtis VanWalleghem explained that the A-CAES technology differs from its ‘non-advanced’ existing compressed air counterpart in eliminating the need for thermal power to heat the compressed air to push it through turbines. Instead, rock caverns are dug deep underground and flooded with water which maintains the pressure of the air when stored. That also means it requires less space and has higher roundtrip efficiency than compressed air. The company’s utility-scale trio of projects are at different stages of development. Applications for Certification (AFC), the process by which all electricity-generating units get licenses to provide power, have been filed for the two California projects.