Houston-based Quidnet Energy has partnered with Hunt Energy Network (HEN) to scale its geopressured energy storage concept and create 300 MW of geomechanical energy storage projects across Texas.
HEN invested $10 million into Quidnet, which has developed a method that utilizes existing oil and gas drilling techniques in tandem with hydropower equipment to store excess energy from power plants and renewable systems. The stored energy can be returned to the grid during times of peak demand.
The newly announced 300 MW target may result in up to 100 storage wells drilled in Texas, where officials are looking for ways to lessen the strain on the electric grid.
Texas’ battery boom, which has seen more than 4,000 MW come online since 2020, influenced Quidnet’s push for commercialization. The Lone Star State is expected to see more than 10,000 MW of capacity by the end of the year, which will solidify Texas as the U.S. leader in installed battery capacity. Despite the large figures, most grid-scale batteries have durations of only about an hour, leaving gaps for long duration energy storage to fill.
CEO of Quidnet Joe Zhou stated, “Despite the decades and half a trillion dollars that’s gone into it, lithium ion is just not going to get us there in terms of the extensive storage needs that we have. We need something radically different from a cost and scale perspective and that’s ultimately the role that we’re going to fill here.”
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