Hydrostor, a Canada-based provider of advanced compressed air energy storage (A-CAES) solutions, said it has selected EPC engineer Kiewit to provide engineering and design for its 500MW/4,000MWh Willow Rock Energy Storage Center in California, USA Serve.
The two companies announced on August 25 that they had reached an agreement to advance front-end engineering and design studies for the project. The project has an eight-hour duration and will supply power to the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) and California Independent System Operator (CAISO) grids and is scheduled to be operational by 2028.
Hydrostor currently has a commercially operating 2.2MW/10MWh Advanced Compressed Air Energy Storage (A-CAES) system that has come online in Ontario since 2019, but the company claims 1.1GW is being deployed in Australia and California /8.7GWh energy storage project has entered the late stage of development.
Hydrostor, which is awaiting approval from the California Energy Commission (CEC), hopes Willow Rock Energy Storage Center will successfully pass an Application for Accreditation (AFC) to register the asset as a power generation facility. The solution converts electricity into compressed air, which is then stored in isobaric underground caverns, while also storing the heat generated during the compression process. And to generate electricity, air and heat can be released to expand through a turbine to generate electricity.
Hydrostor says the storage of air and heat allows the Advanced Compressed Air Energy Storage (A-CAES) system to have better round-trip efficiency than other compressed air solutions.
The company raised $275 million in 2022, including $250 million from Goldman Sachs in January and another $25 million from Canadian pension funds in April.
