Add energy storage device at the end of pipeline

What is repurposing offshore pipeline as energy storage?

Repurposing offshore pipeline as energy storage (ROPES) is a concept that is being investigated by a partnership of offshore projects and services specialists Subsea 7 and offshore energy storage startup Flasc. Flasc was founded as a spinoff from the University of Malta in 2019 and is based in the Netherlands.

Can pipelines be used as pressure vessels in Hydro-Pneumatic energy storage?

The partnership of Subsea 7 and Flasc has a plan to use out-of-service pipelines as pressure vessels in a hydro-pneumatic energy storage concept. The first Flasc HPES prototype deployed in Grand Harbour, Malta, in 2018. Source: Flasc.

How does Hydro-Pneumatic energy storage work?

Energy is stored by pumping seawater into a closed chamber to compress a fixed volume of precharged inert gas. The energy can be recovered by allowing the compressed gas to push the water back out through a hydraulic turbine generator (Fig. 1). Fig. 1—A simplified diagram of the hydro-pneumatic energy storage (HPES) process. Source: Flasc.