By EnergyTech Staff

Sage Geosystems announced the first close of US$17 million in Series A funding for its 3 MW commercial Geopressured Geothermal System (GGS) facility – EarthStore – which will be built in Texas.

The funding is led by Chesapeake Energy Corporation, joined by technology investor Arch Meredith and Helium-3 Ventures, and supported by existing investors Virya, Nabors Industries, and Ignis Energy.

The facility will use Sage Geosystems’ innovative technology, which harvests energy from pressurized water stored deep underground. The facility will not only be able to store energy for short and long duration periods but also be paired with intermittent renewable energy sources, including wind and solar, to provide baseload, dispatchable power, and inertia to the electric grid.

While Sage Geosystems is in the process of manufacturing equipment, construction of the facility will start in Q2 2024 with an expected commission date of Q4 2024. The exact location of the facility will be announced soon.

Sage Geosystems demonstrated the EarthStore system in a full-scale commercial pilot project in Texas in 2023. The pilot produced 200 kW for more than 18 hours (long-duration) and 1 MW for 30 minutes (load-following), generating electricity with Pelton turbines to run equipment on location. The system has a roundtrip efficiency (RTE) of 70-75 per cent and water losses of less than 2 per cent.