March 2017 | Business View Magazine

196 197 Goderich, Ontario Another exciting project in Goderich is being developed by a company called NRStor in association with Compass Min- erals, owner of the Sifto Salt Mine, that will incorporate Compressed Air Energy Storage (CAES) technology. In a CAES plant, ambient air is compressed and stored under pressure in an underground cavern.When electricity is required, the pressurized air is heated and expanded in an expansion turbine that drives a generator for power production. NRStor is working with technology suppliers that have invented a CAES technology that can capture the heat that is generated when the air is initially compressed, thus eliminating the need for any additional fuel to heat it on the back end. This pro- cess allows for a highly efficient system that re- quires no natural gas and produces zero carbon emissions. “They’ve entered into an agreement to store compressed air in the salt cairns, which are now empty,” McCabe explains. “They’ve been identified as some of the best cairns in the world to store compressed air. You bring the compressed air out and you create electricity. That project is just in its pilot phase; they’ve been working on it for two years through the Independent Electricity System Operator (a Crown corporation responsible for operating the electricity market and directing the opera- tion of the bulk electrical system in the prov- ince of Ontario) and they are moving forward with that very exciting project.”