Long-duration energy storage (LDES) developer Hydrostor said it has secured $55 million in funding from Export Development Canada (EDC) for an energy project in Australia.

The financing will support development activities for Hydrostor’s 200-megawatt (MW) Silver City Energy Storage Center project being built in Broken Hill, New South Wales. The project is an advanced compressed air energy storage (A-CAES) facility, the company said in a news release.

The transaction consists of a $55 million secured development expenditure credit facility provided by EDC to finance development expenditures and letter of credit requirements for Silver City.

“This financing from Export Development Canada takes Hydrostor another step closer to bringing our Silver City project to market and proves once again global momentum is growing behind long-duration energy storage technology, particularly A-CAES,” Hydrostor CEO and co-founder Curtis VanWalleghem said.

“The need to guarantee reliable, resilient energy will only continue to grow, and we’re proud to partner with EDC to make our first utility-scale project a reality,” he added.

“At EDC, we’re proud to bring Canadian financing expertise to support Hydrostor’s development of one of Australia’s most ambitious long-duration energy storage projects. This financing underscores our commitment to advancing first-of-a-kind utility-scale renewable energy solutions—key drivers of the global energy transition, both at home and abroad,” EDC President and CEO Alison Nankivell said.

“By supporting the commercialization of Canadian intellectual property, EDC seeks to bring long-term economic returns back to Canada while raising global visibility to our domestic strength in the renewable energy sector,” Nankivell added.

Hydrostor in February secured a $200 million investment from Canada Growth Fund Inc. (CGF), Goldman Sachs Alternatives (Goldman Sachs), and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPP Investments), aimed at supporting its continued investment in A-CAES projects in Canada and globally.

The transaction consists of a $150 million convertible note financing commitment, according to an earlier statement.

In addition, CGF has made available an additional $50 million convertible development expenditure loan facility to fund a portion of development costs for Hydrostor’s Canadian projects, including the Quinte Energy Storage Center project, a 500-MW A-CAES project to be developed in Lennox and Addington County, Ontario.

“This investment is another vote of confidence in Hydrostor’s technology and our ability to bring our initial projects to market, as well as continue to build our robust project pipeline. I’m thrilled to bring Canada Growth Fund onboard as one of our major investors, and equally as excited by the continued support for our company and our technology from Goldman Sachs and CPP Investments,” VanWalleghem said.

Hydrostor said its A-CAES technology “represents a critical solution underpinning the future reliability of energy systems globally, enabling utilities to replace end-of-life fossil generation with zero-emission storage and accelerate the integration of intermittent renewables”. In addition to its late-stage projects, the company said it has more than 7 gigawatts of early-stage projects in its development pipeline in Australia, Canada, Europe, and the USA.

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