A new startup is proposing turning abandoned oil and gas wells in the US into vaults to store electricity. Credit: Jurgen Vogt / Alamy/Alamy

A new startup is proposing turning abandoned oil and gas wells in the US into vaults to store electricity.
Credit: Jurgen Vogt / Alamy/Alamy

In a field in Central Texas, Aaron Mandell and his crew are running pumping equipment to bring a former oil and gas well back to life. But they’re not trying to extract black gold. Instead, they are developing a way to turn abandoned oil and gas wells into vaults for storing electricity.

The concept behind Mandell’s startup, Quidnet Energy, sounds simple: pumping water deep into the earth to fill up the cracks in-between rocks that previously held fossil fuels. When the pressurized water is released, it acts like a spring as it races through a turbine-generator above ground, powering it to produce electricity.

Mandell, co-founder and chairman of Quidnet, is part of a growing number of entrepreneurs in an emerging market to use […]

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