Corre Energy B.V. has expanded its energy storage project development operations into the United States and Canada. Corre Energy US Development Company LLC, a subsidiary of Corre Energy B.V., has been formally launched to source and develop utility-scale compressed air energy storage (CAES) projects across North America.
CAES is a technology that can use renewable energy to compress air into underground salt caverns when power demand and prices are low. This energy is later released to the grid to increase supply when demand and prices are higher, enhancing the stability, reliability and security of the network. When combustion of green hydrogen is included as part of the CAES plant’s technical design, the electricity it supplies has a zero-carbon footprint.
“Last month, we signed binding commercial terms for a 15-year offtake agreement with Eneco, a leading renewable energy supplier in the Netherlands, for the entire multi-day storage capacity of ZW1, our 320-megawatt project,” says Keith McGrane, CEO of Corre Energy. “That agreement confirms the attractiveness of our business model and will support development of a project portfolio in North America.”
“As the market leader for long duration energy storage projects in Europe, we look forward to transferring our knowhow into the U.S. and Canada,” adds McGrane. Our North American operations will also provide opportunities for investors mainly focused on the North American market to participate in financing the debt and equity requirements of our North American subsidiary and its CAES projects.”
Corre Energy US Development Company LLC has named Chet Lyons as president. Lyons played an instrumental role in developing and commercializing merchant-based energy storage projects to perform frequency regulation ancillary services in the United States, Canada and globally.
“The success of Corre Energy B.V. in Europe and new once-in-a-generation government incentives for long duration energy storage projects in both the U.S. and Canada make this the perfect time to build our North American project portfolio,” comments Lyons. “Investment Tax Credits of 30 to 40 percent of total project costs and Production Tax Credits for the use of hydrogen will have a beneficial impact on project economics and can make our projects carbon free, enabling us to play a key role in the decarbonization of North American power generation.”
