ARPA-E Grants $10 Million to Commercialize Geomechanical Pumped Storage Hydropower

Quidnet Energy was picked to receive $10 million in funding from the U.S. Department of Energy Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E).

The funding is part of the ARPA-E Seeding Critical Advances for Leading Energy technologies with Untapped Potential (SCALEUP) program, which provides further funding to previous ARPA-E teams that have been determined to be feasible for widespread deployment and commercialization domestically.

SCALEUP selectees demonstrate a viable path to commercial deployment and the ability to attract private sector investments.

Quidnet Energy was launched with the vision of building breakthrough energy technology to accelerate the energy transition. Quidnet Energy’s Geomechanical Pumped Storage (GPS) technology uses existing natural resources to store renewable energy over long durations and in large quantities. Utilizing existing drilling and hydropower machinery supply chains, Quidnet Energy repurposes existing resources to quickly marshal implementable solutions to our most pressing energy and climate challenges.

The funding from ARPA-E will support Quidnet Energy’s project with San Antonio-based CPS Energy, the largest municipal utility in the U.S. Quidnet Energy will scale its GPS to a 1 MW/10 MWh commercial system that will provide CPS Energy with 10+ hour long-duration energy storage. The project will support CPS Energy's “Flexible Path” Resource Plan to reduce net emissions by 80 percent by 2040 while allowing Quidnet Energy to advance GPS from its current pilot scale to MW-scale commercial systems.