Why A-CAES?

How does THEMES Solution Compare?

Department of Energy 2022 PNNL Report - 2030 LCOS

CAES is the lowest cost technology at Durations of 10+ Hours at 100 and 1,000 MW Scales.
CAES is the lowest cost option when solution mining is required - our idle O&G well solution reduces costs by 10-100x
CAES is the only technology commercially available today that can be rapidly deployed at 100MW scales.
CAES is commercially viable today, where other cost competitive technologies such as Hydrogen need to see major breakthroughs.
THEMES solution has an LCOS of $0.12/kWh and expects to achieve an LCOS of $0.05/kWh by 2030, meeting the DOE LDES Storage Shot goal.

The Lowest Cost Solution:

Three Intersecting Challenges In the California Market

There are close to 3 Million abandoned idle Oil & Gas wells throughout the United States - over 30,000 in California alone. Operators are required to decommission these wells, adding massive liability to their balance sheets. If they are unable to cover the costs, liability falls on the state.

THEMES solution gives operators a way to repurpose their stranded assets into productive energy storage facilities. In the energy transition, operators can participate by either leasing out their subsurface space for energy storage developments, or act as power providers supplying reliable and resilient power.

California is aiming to have a 100% renewable load by 2045 - without LDES, this goal will fall short. This has led The California Energy Commission to aim to procure 2GW of LDES by 2032 to provide reliable power to the grid.

Load Serving Entities (LSEs) such as PG&E and SCE are required by CAISO to purchase capacity through an incentive called "Resource Adequacy", which geological LDES providers can take advantage of by maintaining a constant power supply at a near zero marginal cost of storage.

California organizations known as Community Choice Aggregates (CCAs) have began popping up around the state with interest in purchasing zero-carbon power. Geological LDES is the only suitable option to deliver low-cost power to CCA's.

California is experiencing the Duck Curve phenomena - meaning they have peak power supply during the middle of the day when demand is low, and reduced power supply during the evenings when demand is high.

As fossil fuel generation is decommissioned, the Duck Curve will create instability in California's power grid, leading to brown-outs and black-outs.

Battery technologies are able to account for the first few peak hours after the sun goes down, but once fossil fuel peaker plants are decommissioned, LDES will be required.

THEMES solution is able to offer reliable power when its needed, regardless of the time of day. Because we have a near-zero marginal cost of storage, and a deep reservoir, our power can be withdrawn whenever called upon.