Frequently Asked Questions
Technology
Geomechanical pumped storage technology mimics conventional “pumped hydro” in its storage mechanism but doesn’t require large-scale dams and the costly civil works projects associated with them. Instead, geomechanical pumped storage relies on proven well drilling and construction technologies to pump water into subsurface geological reservoirs at elevated pressure to store energy.
Utilizing high-pressure water, we create a space between the horizontal layers of rock. This space extends outward from the center in a disk-like shape. Quidnet calls this our “Storage Lens.”
By pumping water under the pressure of thousands of feet of earth into this Storage Lens, we are able to store massive amounts of energy over long periods of time. When the energy is needed, the pressurized water is released to move power-generating hydro turbines.
Electricity is a unique product in that it is produced the moment you call upon it. When you turn on a light switch or plug in an iPhone, electrons race to you at 186,000 miles per second (virtually instantaneously) to supply your demand. Whenever you call upon it, somewhere a generator is ramping up to supply you with the additional electrons you’ve requested from the grid. The grid works by staying in perfect balance between supply and demand, with grid operators balancing this equation every five seconds.
Two of our most potent tools in the transition toward a zero-carbon producing electric grid are wind and solar power. These renewable power resources produce no emissions during operations and have a stable, no-cost fuel supply. However, the availability of wind and sun varies minute by minute. Periods of cloud cover or calm, windless conditions mean that supply can’t meet demand. As more and more wind and solar generation are added to the electric grid, more and longer duration storage is needed to keep it in balance.
To address this issue, leading researchers in the energy field have made energy storage the “Holy Grail” of solving our climate and energy challenges. This will be particularly important as other energy forms (transportation/buildings) transition to electricity as their primary energy source, putting significant additional demand on the electric grid.
While we mobilize the same workforce as the oil and gas industry to execute the work in the field, we are looking for very different rock layers: rock that is good for pressurized water storage is bad for oil and gas production and vice-versa.
As a consequence, encountering unexpected oil and gas would actually lead us to stop our operations in a given layer: it interferes with our water storage process, and any mixing of our storage water with oil or gas would result in a complex fluid mixture that requires costly separation equipment and reduces efficiency of the overall process.
Each 10 MWh of GPS, which would supply electricity to 1,000 homes for 10 hours each day, will cycle water equivalent to approximately five olympic swimming pools. This water, minus what is lost on evaporation, is reused over and over in the closed-loop system. Due to the higher operating pressure, and thus energy density of the GPS process, the volume of water cycled in the GPS process is a fraction of the water cycled in a conventional pumped hydro storage facility.
Environment
Quidnet protects freshwater aquifers by creating the Storage Lens within an impermeable rock layer physically separated from freshwater aquifers.
We screen the entire rock column to ensure this separation exists before we commit to field work. Our wells then are constructed to further protect and provide separation between our storage lens and freshwater aquifers. We monitor the success of such separation by performing pressure monitoring and routine wellbore integrity testing.
Quidnet facilities operations are fully powered by electricity and do not have air emissions.
At a broader scale, by enabling significant additions of new renewable solar and wind generation to the electric grid, Quidnet’s technology actually contributes to significantly cleaner air by offsetting higher polluting energy generation.
If built on existing farmland, a Quidnet project only uses a few acres of land for the holding pond, to host the wellhead, and to house pumping and generation equipment. Beyond that, farming and grazing activities can continue as usual.
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