Hydropower “without water” generates more energy than conventional pumped storage units

For a pumped storage power plant, you need two things: Water and tank, which is high enough to run turbines when the water is released. However, a British company is experimenting with a new approach No water and much less altitude gain Need.

Dense water contains more energy

The RheEnergise concept is based on “High-tech liquid” R-19, which claims to be completely environmentally neutral and 2.5 times greater than the density of water. The result: you just need 40% of the height difference And 40% of the liquid volume Conventional pumped storage power plants.

As with traditional pumping storage excess energy – for example – wind turbines on a windy day – are used to pump liquid up from reservoirs in the valley. After the liquid is pumped, it is released to generate power in turbines in the valley when electricity demand increases.

The recipe is top secret

The R-19 recipe is secret. According to RheEnergise it is “extremely cheapAnd easy to make. R-19 comes as a powder and mixes with plain water to form a kind of liquid mush. Each project is designed to be mixed between 10 and 50 mW can feed the network. Since reservoirs can be smaller than normal pump-pumping power plants, these can also be buried underground So it won’t change the scene.

RheEnergise also had one recently an agreement With the British energy specialist Mercia Force Response Occurred. By 2030, they want to install a total of 100 megawatts of R-19 pump-pumping power plants. According to RheEnergise, there are more than 6,500 potential sites in the UK alone where the new technology could be deployed. Almost 350,000 sites across Europe can use this technology. Costs should be much lower than for battery storage systems of similar size.