Oceanus Power & Water LLC, through its subsidiary Oceanus Energia y Agua de Sudamerica SpA, announces a cooperation agreement with EDF to explore various possibilities and conditions for the implementation of the world’s first Integrated Pump Hydro Reverse Osmosis Clean Energy System (IPHROCES) in Latin America, with primary focus in the Andean Region.
IPHROCES technology aims to deliver energy storage services and desalinated water from the same facility.
In Latin America, the power generation sector is going through a rapid transition toward the decarbonization of the grid. Moreover, Latin America is one of the most affected regions by climate change and its countries are increasingly concerned about the decreasing resilience and security of water supplies.
The IPHROCES concept integrates seawater pumped hydro energy storage and reverse osmosis desalination. IPHROCES has the potential to provide low-cost, long-duration energy storage to aid the region’s transition to clean energy by storing excess wind and solar energy for delivery during peak demand periods. In addition, the solution will provide a local, resilient supply of potable, desalinated water.
The integration of these technologies results in material economic and environmental benefits that cannot be cost effectively achieved independently, according to a press release. The IPHROCES concept is well-suited to help regions and countries proactively address some of the growing challenges of our changing climate at the utility scale.
“We are excited to team up with EDF. The synergies between Oceanus and EDF rely on both companies impressive track record in power and water projects across the globe,” said Joan Leal, president of Oceanus South America. “I always envisioned to implement IPHROCES in Latin America, to alleviate the severe water crisis that the region is facing and to contribute to its goal [to be] carbon-neutral based on renewable energy. IPHROCES can significantly benefit the region by providing low-cost clean water and renewable energy as well as helping to reactive the local economy and job creation.”
During our November HYDROVISION Exchange, Leal gave a technical presentation in the Energy Storage session on the Oceanus technology. Click here to access that session.
Neal Aronson, president of Oceanus, commented “Oceanus is thrilled to partner with one of the world’s leaders in low-carbon energy, and more specifically pumped hydro energy storage, on this exciting opportunity. EDF and Oceanus share values on how to contribute to solve the challenges of our climate crisis using existing technologies and to deliver low cost, clean energy and fresh water. Oceanus looks forward to working with EDF to explore opportunities for the development of IPHROCES facilities, wherever large populations reside in semiarid coastal regions.”
