Low Carbon Innovation Fund invests in scalable pumped hydro

UK-based clean tech company RheEnergise has secured a £335,000 ($424,000) equity investment from the Low Carbon Innovation Fund (LCIF2) for their HD Hydro solution.

LCIF2 invests in low-carbon innovators and has made 37 awards to date.

According to RheEnergise, with this investment concluded, the company will look to a second and third close of additional investments over the next quarter. Also, it has firm commitments of a further £750,000 ($948,000) in funding, ultimately on course to secure new investments of at least £3 million ($3.8 million).

Stephen Crosher, chief executive of RheEnergise said: “Over the past 12 months, we have had customer interest in our work from over 30 countries. With this latest investment, along with the additional investment that we will secure, we can accelerate the commercial deployment of our storage solution.”

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HD Hydro

RheEnergise’s solution, HD Hydro, is a novel form of pumped hydro energy storage designed to provide medium to long-duration energy storage.

The system setup involves storage tanks positioned at the top and bottom of a small hill. The storage tanks are connected by underground pipes, called penstocks. Next to the lower storage tanks there is a power-house containing the pumps and turbines.

RheEnergise explains that when energy demand is low, with associated low costs, the High-Density Fluid R-19 is pumped to the top storage tanks. As energy prices rise the HD Fluid R-19 is released and it passes through the turbines, regenerating electricity to supply power to the grid.

The system uses a fluid with a density 2.5x that of water, allowing the projects to operate on low hills rather than high mountains.

HD Hydro can provide 4 to 16 hours of energy storage in the 10MW to 50MW power range and can be connected to existing grid infrastructure and can be co-located with other renewable energy projects.

The high-tech fluid also means that projects can be 2.5x smaller for the same power.

Global need for storage

Mordor Intelligence estimates the energy storage market size at $51.10 billion in 2024 and expects it to reach $99.72 billion by 2029.

Jim Campion, chair of RheEnergise suggests that "medium and long-term energy storage is going to be the next big thing for the power market," which is why RheEnergise is receiving a great deal of interest from the market.

Said Campion, “My recent experience of deploying funds for giga-watt scale projects points to the absolute need for energy storage to support energy grids across Europe and globally."

RheEnergise is currently investigating project opportunities in the UK and Ireland, USA and Canada, Chile and Australia.