Engineering news
Mercia Power Response, a provider of flexible power response services to the UK grid, signed an agreement with RheEnergise to explore the potential deployment of its new form of long-duration hydro energy storage, known as High-Density Hydro (HD Hydro).
The companies will work together to identify suitable sites for HD Hydro storage projects, using Mercia PR’s existing grid connections.
Unlike conventional hydro power, the system from RheEnergise uses dense liquid instead of water. The fluid is two-and-a-half-times denser than water, and could therefore potentially provide two-and-a-half-times the power of equivalent conventional systems. This means that HD Hydro can be deployed beneath the surface of hills rather than mountains, opening up more opportunities in the UK and around the world.
Designed to be ‘low-cost, energy efficient and environmentally benign’, the systems use excess energy – such as that generated by wind turbines on a windy day with low demand – to pump liquid uphill from underground storage tanks. After travelling uphill, the liquid would then be released to power downhill turbines when electricity demand is higher.
The company previously told Professional Engineering that it had invented the new high-density fluid, known as R-19. Chief executive Stephen Crosher said that the liquid is a fine-milled suspended solid in water, with low viscosity and low abrasion characteristics. The base material is used in oral medication and is common and available in the UK, he said. The fluid could either be manufactured on-site or at a depot.
Mercia PR already has 40 energy storage sites with a combined capacity of 263MW, and a number of other sites under development over the next five to 10 years. Industry partners will also bring market expertise in energy trading and forecasting, the companies claimed, helping RheEnergise optimise grid-connected energy storage projects.
“Our HD Hydro technology can provide medium- and long-duration energy storage, which is becoming increasingly important as the UK moves towards net zero and with a UK energy system that is increasingly reliant on intermittent renewables,” Crosher said.
Sophie Orme, commercial director of RheEnergise, added: “Given the growing pressure to speed up the decarbonisation of the UK’s energy system, our HD Hydro system can be consented in months rather than years, so we are able to make a meaningful and positive impact on the energy transition over the next decade.
“With our partnership with Mercia PR, we will have a better understanding of the feasibility of deploying 100MW of long duration storage capacity by 2030.”
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