RheEnergise to start LDES operations at Cornwood in the autumn, as part of the R&D pathway to its first commercial scale project 

RheEnergise, the UK-Canadian company that is developing a new and advanced form of long-duration hydro-energy storage system, has completed the main mechanical works at its demonstrator project at Cornwood, a few miles from Plymouth in Devon.

The R&D demonstrator - a real-life test laboratory - is a key element in RheEnergise’s path to the commercial deployment of its LDES technology. Onsite work at the Cornwood demonstrator, which has been mainly funded by the UK Government through DESNZ’s Long Duration Energy Demonstration programme, started last year. A new type of Pumped Hydro Storage, it will provide flexibility and security to national energy systems and facilitate the increased deployment of renewables and the transition to low carbon generation/Net Zero.

The main mechanicals now installed at Cornwood includes the main turbine, pump and generators together with all of its piping and valves, the power conversion system, the mixing system, the fluid management system, the flow control systems and the hydraulics. The main civil engineering works including the power-house, the upper and lower reservoirs and the underground pipelines, were completed earlier this year.

The work was carried out by D.A Macdonald Ltd, Friendship Engineering, and Drew & Co. working alongside RheEnergise’s in-house engineering team led by Dr Tamás Bertényi, the company’s Chief Technology Officer and a co-founder of RheEnergise.

Dr Tamás Bertényi said: “Completion of the main mechanical works is a major milestone in the Cornwood project and allows us to move into the fluid testing and the energy storage phases of work. We have carried out considerable R&D work to get us to this stage but Cornwood is very much a live and crucial test-bed for our work; it is already providing us with valuable data and learnings as we move towards the first commercial deployment of our LDES technology.”

“It's not without challenges, but we are aiming for our first commercial projects to be built and commissioned within the next two to three years.”

RheEnergise has agreements in place to deploy its technology in the UK, South America, Australia and mainland Europe. In July, the company secured a £2.15m (€2.5m) grant from the European Innovation Council (EIC) Accelerator to support the company’s R&D work. And the company is currently amidst a funding campaign in the USA and Canada.