This company is sweet on salt for storing clean energy on Newfoundland's west coast

One company sees big potential for clean energy generation on Newfoundland's west coast, and its eye isn't to the wind, but what's underground.

Triple Point Resources owns the mining rights to the Fischells Salt Dome, a massive underground cavern that can act as energy storage sites, in the Bay St. George area.

"Some people have been driving on top [of it] for years, but you don't see it," CEO Julie Lemieux told CBC Radio's Newfoundland Morning.

She wants to use the underground geological structure to store clean energy generated across the province by proposed wind-hydrogen projects — even as many of the companies have scaled back plans.

"What we are looking for is to build a compressor energy storage so we can help Newfoundland [and Labrador] Hydro to make sure that we harness all the energy we can from the wind in a very big salt cavern," said Lemieux.

She says the compressor she hopes to build will be able to hold excess energy without wasting resources.

"We make sure that there's no waste. We make sure we can use that energy for later use for the grid itself."

Triple Point Resources' website says the Fischells Salt Dome is approximately 2 kilometres deep, massive, "with potential to store more than 35 million cubic meters, or the equivalent of 180,000 tonnes of hydrogen."

Fischells could be the largest salt storage facility on North America's east coast, it adds.

Lemieux says she's getting studies to evaluate the Fischells Salt Dome project before any work gets underway and the company can sell its services.

The project will require environmental assessments and a regulatory framework from the provincial government, she says.

Lemieux says about 600 jobs will be created for the project's construction and Triple Point Resources plans to employ about 20 specialized full-time employees to keep it running.

"We believe we can be in operation in five years," said Lemieux.

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