A recent test shows that Quidnet’s technology can store energy in pressurized water underground for months at a time.
Texas-based startup Quidnet Energy just completed a test showing it can store energy for up to six months by pumping water underground.
Using water to store electricity is hardly a new concept—pumped hydropower storage has been around for over a century. But the company hopes its twist on the technology could help bring cheap, long-duration energy storage to new places.
Sodium-ion batteries are popping up in electric scooters and grid storage installations.
In traditional pumped hydro storage facilities, electric pumps move water uphill, into a natural or manmade body of water. Then, when electricity is needed, that water is released and flows downhill past a turbine, generating electricity. Quidnet’s approach instead pumps water down into impermeable rock formations and keeps it under pressure so it flows up when released. “It’s like pumped hydro, upside down,” says CEO Joe Zhou.
