RheEnergise has placed its first order for manufacture of its HD Hydro® pumped hydro turbine with Hydropower Engineering (HPE) in Turkey.
HPE will manufacture the 500 kW HD Turbine for RheEnergise’s demonstrator project, to be built at a site near Plymouth, Devon. The turbine will be delivered in the first quarter of 2024.
RheEnergise’s demonstrator project has received financial support from the UK Government through the Longer Duration Energy Storage (LoDES) Demonstration Programme (Stream 2). As part of the UK Government’s Net Zero Innovation Portfolio (NZIP), LoDES aims to accelerate the commercialization of low-carbon technologies and systems.
Rather than using water as the working fluid, RheEnergise’s HD Hydro storage system uses an environmentally benign fluid that is 2.5 times denser than water and can provide 2.5 times the power when compared to a conventional low-density hydro-power system, according to the company. At times of low energy demand, the High-Density Fluid R-19™ is pumped uphill between underground storage tanks connected by underground pipes. As energy prices rise, the fluid is released downhill and passes through turbines, generating electricity. Projects will range from 10 MW to 100 MW of power and can work with vertical elevations as low as 100 m or less.
This means that HD Hydro can be deployed on hills rather than mountains, opening up massive opportunities in the UK and around the world.
“We are delighted to be working with HPE, which has a first-class reputation for high precision manufacturing in the hydro sector,” said Stephen Crosher, co-founder and chief executive officer of RheEnergise. “The placing of our order with HPE is an important milestone in our efforts to deliver our demonstrator project.”
RheEnergise’s analysis of potential project opportunities has indicated that there are about 6,500 site opportunities in the UK, 115,000 in Europe, 345,000 in North America and 500,000 in Africa and the Middle East.
In August 2023, Hydro Review reported that Mercia Power Response in the UK signed an agreement with RheEnergise to explore the potential deployment of the High-Density Hydro® (HD Hydro) long-duration hydro energy storage technology.