1 GW Energy Storage Project Planned

Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems (MHPS) and Magnum Development said they are working together on a project to produce 1 GW worth of energy storage in Utah.

The Advanced Clean Energy Storage (ACES) project in central Utah, will eventually deploy four types of clean energy storage at utility scale, the companies said. These energy storage technologies include:

• Renewable hydrogen
• Compressed air energy storage
• Large scale flow batteries
• Solid oxide fuel cells

As a step toward decarbonization, MHPS said it has developed gas turbine technology that enables a mixture of renewable hydrogen and natural gas to produce power with even lower carbon emissions. The MHPS technology roadmap aims to use 100% renewable hydrogen as a fuel source, which will allow gas turbines to produce electricity with zero carbon emissions.

Magnum Development owns and controls the only known “Gulf Coast” style domal-quality salt formation in the western United States. With five salt caverns already in operation for liquid fuels storage, Magnum is continuing to develop Compressed Air Energy Storage and renewable hydrogen storage options. Strategically located adjacent to the Intermountain Power Project, the Magnum said the site is positioned to integrate seamlessly with the western U.S. power grid utilizing existing infrastructure.

In many parts of the western United States, there are times of day when demand for electricity is lower than the production of renewable power. This leads to curtailment of renewable generation and negative electricity pricing. Continued deployment of renewables will require that excess power be stored for later use, the companies said. To serve the needs of the entire western United States, many gigawatt-hours of storage capacity are required.

“For 20 years, we’ve been reducing carbon emissions of the U.S. power grid using natural gas in combination with renewable power to replace retiring coal-fired power generation,” said Paul Browning,president and CEO of MHPS Americas. “In California and other states in the western United States, which will soon have retired all of their coal-fired power generation, we need the next step in decarbonization. Mixing natural gas and storage, and eventually using 100% renewable storage, is that next step. The technologies we are deploying will store electricity on time scales from seconds to seasons of the year. For example, when we add gas turbines powered with renewable hydrogen to a hydrogen storage salt-dome, we have a solution that stores and generates electricity with zero carbon emissions.”

Central Utah is the ideal location for this project, and Utah is a business friendly state for projects like this, according to Craig Broussard, CEO of Magnum.

“Magnum’s site adjacent to the Intermountain Power Project is positioned to take full advantage of existing regional electricity grid connections, fully developed transportation infrastructure, ample solar and wind development capacity, a skilled workforce currently transitioning away from coal, and, of course, the unique salt dome opportunity,” said Craig Broussard, CEO of Magnum. “Magnum and MHPS are great partners. Magnum has the below-ground technologies necessary to store energy at utility scale, while MHPS has the above-ground technologies such as hydrogen-fired gas turbines, compressed air storage, solid oxide fuel cells and battery storage technology, to supply electricity at grid scale. With the ACES initiative, we will dramatically accelerate the vision of a western renewable energy hub that we launched over a decade ago.”

The ACES project will engineer, finance, construct, own, and operate facilities to be located in Millard County, Utah. No timeline for the project was announced.