Hydrostor Establishes Permanent Australian Presence With the Opening of Melbourne Office

TORONTO, CANADA & MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA – June 22, 2023 – Hydrostor Inc. (Hydrostor), a global long duration energy storage (LDES) provider, with headquarters in Toronto, Canada, announced today that it is expanding operations in Australia with the opening of two new offices.

Hydrostor will open its Australian headquarters in Melbourne, Victoria. Hydrostor’s global growth aspirations include the ongoing development of future Australian projects, and its Silver City Energy Storage Centre in Broken Hill, NSW. Hydrostor currently employs 10 origination, project development and engineering team members in Australia and will grow this base substantially over the next 12 months.

The State of Victoria’s Minister for Energy and Resources, Lily D’Ambrosio, said “We’re proud that our ambitious climate agenda and nation-leading emissions reduction targets of 75-80 per cent by 2035 and net zero by 2045 are attracting investment from companies from around the world.”

The Australian headquarters will open in July 2023, with a project office in Adelaide opening shortly thereafter, which will support the construction of Silver City.

Hydrostor CEO, Curtis VanWalleghem, said “Hydrostor’s low cost and emissions free technology delivers proven long duration energy storage. Compressed Air Energy Storage is a vital component of the clean energy transition to achieve net-zero emissions and we are committed to bringing low impact solutions to communities throughout Australia that firm’s intermittent renewable generation.”

The State of Victoria’s Minister for Trade and Investment, Tim Pallas, said “We are a leader in innovation and renewables and that’s why companies like Hydrostor want to be here.”

The Silver City Storage Centre will be a 100% owned 200 MW/1,600 MWh energy storage project – the first of its kind in Australia. Using Hydrostor’s patented Advanced Compressed Air Energy Storage (A-CAES) solution, Silver City will abate nearly 13 million metric tons of carbon dioxide over its lifetime, equivalent to removing more than 50,000 cars from the road each year of operation.

A-CAES Technology
Hydrostor’s A-CAES technology provides an alternative to Pumped Hydro Energy Storage (PHES) for bulk long term (8 hours plus) energy storage, having a comparable price point and additional benefits that include siting flexibility, shorter development and construction times, and a lower environmental impact. A-CAES will accelerate the pathway to net-zero energy systems globally, enabling energy storage for extended periods using only compressed air, underground caverns, and water, with no performance degradation over a 50+ year lifetime. A-CAES operates by compressing air during times of low electricity prices, storing it, and releasing it through a turbo-expander to generate electricity during times of high demand and high energy prices. Locational flexibility allows Hydrostor’s technology to target specific problems and capture new value steams, including fringe-of-grid applications such as the Silver City Project, Renewable Energy Zones (REZs), and off-grid applications.

About Silver City
The Silver City Energy Storage Centre (“Silver City”) is an Advanced Compressed Air Energy Storage project that will have the ability to produce 200 MW of power and store up to 8 hours of energy. The project is located in Broken Hill, New South Wales Australia and will create over 350 full time equivalent peak construction jobs, with the majority of these workers being sourced from the local Broken Hill Region. In addition to the direct jobs generated during the construction and operation phases, the project will require significant quantities of New South Wales goods and services.

During the 50+ year project life, Silver City will provide an emission free long-term grid reliability solution to the remote mining community, and enable the community to grow over time, serving increasing electrical loads in the most cost-effective manner for the grid. This Project received funding from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) as part of ARENA’s Advancing Renewables Program.

About Hydrostor Inc.
Hydrostor is a leading developer and operator of long-duration energy storage systems. Hydrostor leverages a proven technology solution for delivering long-duration energy storage (eight hours or more) to power grids around the world. Hydrostor’s technology uses compressed air and water to store energy. This patented technology allows grid operators to draw on clean energy, even when there is no sun to fuel solar panels and no wind to generate energy from turbines.

Hydrostor has a successful utility scale facility commercially contracted to Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO) located in Goderich, Ontario, and two advanced projects in development in Kern County, California and New South Wales, Australia. With headquarters in Toronto, Canada and offices in Melbourne, Australia and Sacramento, USA, Hydrostor is progressing an extensive early-stage pipeline of projects in North America, Australia and Europe. Hydrostor is backed by Goldman Sachs Asset Management, the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) and other forward-thinking institutional investors, providing financial security to commit to top-tier energy projects.