How it works

At times of low energy demand, with associated low costs, the High-Density Fluid R-19 is pumped to the top storage tanks. The low-cost electricity is often provided by abundant renewable energy, such as wind and solar power.

As energy prices rise the HD Fluid R-19 is released and it passes through the turbines, regenerating electricity to supply power to the grid.

Because we use a high-tech fluid with a density 2.5x that of water RheEnergise projects can operate on low hills rather than high mountains.

Projects are 10MW to 50MW of power. This means that they can be connected onto existing grid infrastructure and can be co-located with other renewable energy projects.

The high-tech fluid also means that projects can be 2.5x smaller for the same power. 

65% of pumped energy storage project costs are civil engineering construction costs, making projects 2.5x smaller offers huge savings opportunity.

System set up

Storage tanks (buried) are located at the top and bottom of a small hill.

The storage tanks are connected by underground pipes, called penstocks.

Next to the lower storage tanks there is a power-house containing the pumps and turbines.

In July 2022 the engineering team conducted a series of field tests on a ski hill located just outside Montreal in Canada.

The aim of the test was to prove two hypotheses:

1. To achieve the same power and energy, the water system would need twice the vertical elevation (50m) as compared to the High-Density Hydro system (25m). i.e. the decrease in vertical elevation needed with a High-Density Hydro system is proportionate to the increase in density of the fluid.

2. At the same elevation, double the power or double the energy would be obtained with the high-density hydro solution compared to water. i.e. the increase in density results in an increased power level, compared to water, that is proportionate to the increase in density.

The tests went very well. Data was captured that proved the core hypotheses.