Funding boost for Australia’s first compressed air energy storage system

LinkedIn
Twitter
Reddit
Facebook
Email
How the Angas CAES project will look above ground. Source: Hydrostor.

The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) has approved A$6 million of funding for the country’s first compress air energy storage (CAES) project.

US-firm Hydrostor will convert a disused zinc mine in South Australia into a below-ground air-storage cavern. The 5MW /10MWh demonstration plant will provide load shifting, frequency regulation and grid security. The Angas mine is currently a brownfield site in a state of “care and maintenance”. The company had been looking for a site in Australia since summer 2017.

This article requires Premium SubscriptionBasic (FREE) Subscription

Enjoy 12 months of exclusive analysis

  • Regular insight and analysis of the industry’s biggest developments
  • In-depth interviews with the industry’s leading figures
  • Annual digital subscription to the PV Tech Power journal
  • Discounts on Solar Media’s portfolio of events, in-person and virtual

Or continue reading this article for free

The latest funds add to A$3 million it has received from the South Australian Government’s Renewable Energy Technology Fund.

“While being a commercial demonstration at this stage, Hydrostor’s innovative way to store energy with air could add to Australia’s grid-scale storage capability, complementing pumped hydro and batteries,” said Darren Miller, CEO, ARENA.

“Compressed air storage has the potential to provide similar benefits to pumped hydro energy storage, however it has the added benefits of being flexible with location and topography, such as utilising a cavern already created at a disused mine site,” added Miller.

South Australia has become a hotbed for emerging energy storage technologies. A major blackout event in the territory in 2016 exposed the grid’s unsuitability for a modern power generation mix. Since then, the Tesla “100 days” battery install, lithium battery trials and the world's largest virtual power plant have all been deployed.

Read Next

June 24, 2025
Commissioning of the 1.6GWh Melbourne Renewable Energy Hub (MREH) battery energy storage system (BESS) in Victoria, Australia, is set to begin.
June 24, 2025
AEMO has issued a call for 6-hour duration BESS in Western Australia to support grid reliability as coal-fired power plants are withdrawn.
June 23, 2025
The North American Electric Reliability Corporation’s (NERC’s) 2025 State of Reliability report finds evidence suggesting battery energy storage systems (BESS) can improve primary frequency response.
June 23, 2025
The Australian government is set to cut CIS tender process times to around six months as a 576MWh solar-plus-storage site has been approved in Tasmania.
June 20, 2025
EnergyAustralia has partnered with EDF Power Solutions Australia to deliver a 3GWh pumped hydro site in New South Wales.

Most Popular

Email Newsletter