Geomechanical pumped energy storage is a new technology that could help make the transition to renewable energy possible.
, the energy innovation organization founded by Bill Gates. It takes the fracking technology developed by the oil and gas industries and repurposes it to store energy. Here’s how the company describes the process, which it calls “geomechanical pumped storage” or GPS.
“Geomechanical pumped storage uses the rock beneath our feet as a sustainable natural resource. Quidnet’s patented GPS technology utilizes excess renewable energy to store water beneath ground under pressure. When renewable energy is not producing, this pressurized water drives hydroelectric turbines producing electricity to support the grid at a fraction of the cost of Li-ion and for much longer duration.
Quidnet say its GPS technology “unlocks the constraints of traditional pumped hydro to fundamentally change the economics and deployment profile of long duration storage.” A GPS system costs half of what traditional battery storage costs and is suitable for many locations where pumped hydro storage is not practical. Because it relies on
that is common in the oil and gas industry, it provides new employment opportunities for workers in those industries. Quidnet is developing energy storage sites in several parts of Texas as well as in Ohio, New York, and Alberta, Canada.