Hydrostor launches 4 GWh advanced compressed air energy storage project in Ontario

Hydrostor is developing a large-scale advanced compressed air energy storage (A-CAES) project in Greater Napanee, Ontario – “right in Hydrostor’s backyard” – as the Canadian company’s CEO and co-founder, Curtis VanWalleghem, said following the project announcement.

The planned Quinte Energy Storage Centre will deploy Hydrostor’s A-CAES technology for long-duration energy storage (LDES) for a lifetime of 50 years. The company expects the project to be operational in “the early 2030s.”

Two sites in Ontario’s Lennox and Addington County are being assessed in parallel for the development, which will be strategically located near a transformer and generating station.

The initial phase of development will target 500 MW/4 GWh of capacity, sufficient power for up to 500,000 homes for eight hours. Additional phases will target between 1 GW/8GWh and 2 GW/16 GWh.

“This project will make critical contributions to grid reliability and resiliency, advancing the province’s energy goals and bringing a large infrastructure project with significant jobs and investment to Ontario,” said Van Walleghem.

Ontario’s electricity market operator, IESO, has warned that the region faces as much as a 65% increase in electricity demand by 2050. With forecasts anticipating a capacity shortfall of 12 to 15 GW by 2035, Hydrostor claims large-scale renewable, grid-balancing projects like the Quinte Energy Storage Centre can help fully integrate other forms of clean energy generation. It claims the A-CAES facility will be a “pillar for electricity reliability in Ontario.”

Project construction is tipped to begin around 2029 following the contract award in the first quarter of 2027, according to a project timeline on Hydrostor’s website.

It is expected to contribute more than CA$1.4 billion to Canada’s GDP and has received funding from the Canada Growth Fund which provided a $50 million USD convertible development expenditure loan facility to fund a portion of development costs for Hydrostor’s projects in Canada.

The facility will begin its permitting process to secure municipal, provincial, and federal permits and approvals. It is being developed in partnership with the indigenous community, the Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte, who will be an equity partner.

The Toronto, Ontario-headquartered company is in the advanced stages of developing several other projects around the world based on its A-CAES technology, including the 4 GWh Willow Rock project in California, due online in 2030, and the 1.6 GWh Silver City project in New South Wales, Australia.

Hydrostor maintains its technology differs from the conventional CAES approach, which typically recovers less than 50% of input energy. Hydrostor integrates a thermal storage system that captures and stores heat generated during compression, then reuses it during discharge instead of releasing it as waste.

Its A-CAES also addresses another limitation of regular CAES: variable power output caused by changes in underground air pressure. Hydrostor uses water from an above-ground reservoir to maintain constant cavern pressure, and water condensed during compression is captured and reused.

Hydrostor says its approach means its projects can be implemented across a broader range of underground locations, as unlike traditional CAES, it doesn’t rely on salt caverns to withstand pressure fluctuations.