RheEnergise places HPE hydro storage turbine order

UK clean technology company RheEnergise - which is developing ‘HD Hydro’, a form of pumped hydro energy storage - has placed its first turbine order with the Turkish engineering company, Hydropower Engineering (HPE). 

HPE will manufacture the 500kW turbine for RheEnergise’s demonstrator project, which will be built at a site near Plymouth, Devon.  The turbine will be delivered in the first quarter of 2024.

RheEnergise’s demonstrator project has received financial support from the UK Government through the Longer Duration Energy Storage (LoDES) Demonstration Programme (Stream 2). As part of the UK Government’s £1 billion Net Zero Innovation Portfolio (NZIP), LoDES aims to accelerate the commercialisation of low-carbon technologies and systems.

Rather than using water as the working fluid, RheEnergise’s HD Hydro storage system uses an environmentally benign fluid which is 2.5 times denser than water, and which can provide 2.5 times the power when compared to a conventional low-density hydro-power system.  “It means that HD Hydro can be deployed on hills rather than mountains, opening up massive opportunities in the UK and around the world,” a RheEnergise statement said. 

Stephen Crosher, co-founder and CEO of RheEnergise, said: “We are delighted to be working with HPE which has a first-class reputation for high precision manufacturing in the hydro sector.  The placing of our order with HPE is an important milestone in our efforts to deliver our demonstrator project.”