Featured in Mountains to climb – 05-2026

Long-duration storage on a compressed timeline

For most of its history, not much changed in compressed air energy storage (CAES). The first plant was deployed in 1978, but the technology never really caught on. Now, with a sudden flurry of record-breaking utility-scale plants coming online in China, increased deployment in Europe, North America and Australia, and growing calls to get off gas, might CAES finally have its moment in the sun?

By

Matthew Lynas

11 May 2026

Hydrostor describes its 10 MWh Goderich Energy Storage Centre as the world’s first commercially contracted advanced CAES facility. The project is contracted to Ontario’s independent electricity system operator for peaking capacity, ancillary services, and full participation in the merchant energy market. | Image: Hydrostor

The conditions need to be right, but when they are, the potential is huge. In early April 2024, Chinese developer Zhongchu Guoneng (Beijing) and Technology Co (ZCGN) commissioned an energy storage project that put the world’s biggest battery storage projects in the shade. The 300 MW/1.8 GWh CAES plant in Feicheng, Shandong, is hard to …

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