Hills across the UK can be transformed into renewable energy “batteries” using RheEnergise’s underground hydropower system.

RheEnergise, a UK clean technology company, wants to partner farmers across the UK to deploy their pioneering hydropower-like energy storage system, alongside their existing or future renewable energy assets, such as wind and solar farms. By doing so, RheEnergise offers farmers greater energy security and a new long-term source of income.

RheEnergise has developed a a system that adapts one of the oldest forms of energy storage, hydropower, to store and release electricity from slopes rather than requiring steep dam walls and mountains. It means that there are thousands of potential hydropower sites across the UK that could be used for energy storage – as many as 6,500 sites, according to the company’s own analysis.

RheEnergise’s High-Density Hydro® storage system is low-cost, energy efficient and environmentally benign.  Rather than using water, RheEnergise has developed a fluid, which is 2½ times denser than water, and which can provide 2½ times the power and 2½ times the energy when compared to a conventional low-density hydro-power system that operate in the Scottish Highlands, Wales and across Europe. Future projects will range from 5MW to 100MW of power and can work with vertical elevations as low as 100m or less, and co-located with wind, solar and AD plants.

The company is already assessing the potential of deploying its technology at underground sites in Scotland’s Central Belt between Dumbarton and Dundee, and is keen to secure land and energy agreements elsewhere in the UK. It is part of a consortium of four British companies that wants to build Scotland’s next generation of hectare+ scale vertical farms, powered by 100% renewable energy and using RheEnergise’s High-Density Hydro® energy storage system. These farms would provide locally produced fresh foods (salads and fruits) to over 60% of the Scottish population, helping to meet the Scottish Government’s ambitions to produce more homegrown fruit and vegetables. Each vertical farm would be powered by locally produced renewable energy.

Stephen Crosher, Chief Executive of RheEnergise said: “There is a massive potential for our energy storage technology, in partnership with the farming community, to transform the rural economy. Our ambitions in Scotland are just the start; all parts of the UK could benefit. We can offer landowners, especially those who already own wind and solar farms, a long-term income stream and far greater energy security. We also expect to restore natural grasslands or grow trees as our technology remain underground for the duration of each project’s 60-year lifespan.”


RheEnergise’s development of its technology has received grant support from the UK and Canadian governments and is shortly to commence a crowdfunding campaign via the Crowdcube platform.

Notes to Editors:
How the HD Hydro system works: at times of low energy demand, with associated low costs, the High-Density Fluid R-19™ is pumped uphill between storage tanks (buried underground). The storage tanks are connected by underground pipes. As energy prices rise, the non-corrosive fluid is released downhill and passes through turbines, generating electricity to supply power to the grid. Projects will range from 5MW to 100MW of power and can work with vertical elevations as low as 100m or less. It means that, unlike conventional pumped hydro energy storage, a RheEnergise HD Hydro system can operate beneath small hills rather than mountains; the system requires 2½ times less vertical elevation. It also means that there are many more sites suitable for RheEnergise projects – in the UK and across the world.

RheEnergise is active in Canada. In July 2022, in partnership with Queen’s University in Ontario, was awarded, it received a CAD$200,000 research grant from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, the major federal agency responsible for funding engineering research in Canada. And in September 2022, RheEnergise successfully completed field trials at a site in Quebec that validated the core proposition that its HD Hydro system provides the same power and best-of-class economics as conventional pumped hydro energy storage, but on a much smaller hill.