Cavern Energy Storage
Cavern Energy Storage is developing a way to store electrical energy in Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi using underground pumped storage hydroelectric.
The Need
The United States needs more electricity storage. The Department of Energy has established the Energy Storage Grand Challenge and estimates the US will need 1,000 GW of energy storage by 2050 to support increased levels of renewable energy. Pumped Storage Hydroelectric is being used in mountainous regions to implement long duration energy storage, but the gulf coast region is too flat to use this technology.
The Solution
As part of its Strategic Petroleum Reserve initiative, the Department of Energy stores oil in salt dome caverns at four locations on the US Gulf Coast—two in Texas and two in Louisiana.
The Market
Salt domes are also present in Northern Europe – Germany, Poland, Denmark, Belarus, Ukraine, Africa – Angola and Gabon, South America – Brazil, Middle East – Iran, Iraq and under the Persian Gulf, and Canada.
Underground Pumped Storage Hydroelectric
This novel approach uses salt dome caverns for the upper and lower reservoirs of a closed-loop system. Compressed air is pumped into the caverns to turn them into hydroelectric reservoirs. The compressed air raises the surface pressure of the fluid piping so that the hydroelectric turbine acts just like conventional pumped storage infrastructure. This leverages the existing technology of pumped storage hydroelectric and salt dome storage caverns into a new energy storage system for the gulf coast.
Latest News & Announcements
Underground Pumped Storage Hydroelectric – Presented at SMRI – Spring 2022 Conference
MAY 26, 2022
Cavern Energy Storage founder William Taggart presented the Underground Pumped Storage Hydroelectric technology at this Solution Mining Research Institute – Spring 2022 Conference which specializes in salt mining and salt cavern storage.