Mitsubishi Hitachi, Magnum Launch One-Gigawatt Clean Energy Storage in Utah, World’s Largest

Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems and Magnum Development on May 30 announced plans to build the world’s largest storage project in central Utah. The project will incorporate 100 percent clean energy storage, deploying utility-scale technologies, which include renewable hydrogen, compressed air energy storage, large-scale flow batteries, and solid oxide fuel cells.

Mitsubishi said it has developed gas turbine technology that enables a mixture of renewable hydrogen and natural gas to generate power with lower emissions. The company’s technology roadmap aims to use 100 percent renewable hydrogen as a fuel source, facilitating zero-carbon electricity production from gas turbines.

Magnum owns a salt dome storage facility with five caverns, which already operates liquid fuels storage. The developer will continue to explore compressed energy storage and renewable storage options. The location of the site, adjacent to the Intermountain Power Project, will help seamlessly integrate with the western power grid using existing infrastructure.

The project, called Advanced Clean Energy Storage, will construct and operate facilities to be located in Millard County, Utah. MHPS and Magnum said they will invite strategic and financial partners to participate in the coming weeks and months.

Magnum’s compressed air energy storage project in the Western Energy Hub facilitates the storage of off-peak power from wind and solar sources. The process involves the conversion of intermittent renewable generation into compressed air, which can be stored in “commercial-scale solution mined caverns.” The stored air serves as an energy reserve that can be released to produce electric power at any time.