British Gas’ owner has supported a groundbreaking plan to build UK’s first commercial project for energy storage using liquid air. The fundraising effort is expected to raise £300m.
Highview Power revealed that Centrica was part of a consortium which supported its proposal. This group also included the UK Infrastructure Bank and mining giant Rio Tinto, as well as Goldman Sachs.
Centrica said it invested 70 million francs in the fund-raising.
The money will be used to help finance the construction of an energy storage facility capable of running six hours in Carrington on the outskirts Manchester by 2026.
The device works by compressing the air into a fluid and cooling it down to temperatures as low as -200C.
Air will be stored at low pressure in tanks that are insulated. The air will be heated and expanded in the tanks to create a high pressure gas. This will power a turbine.
Highview, a UK-based company, has developed the novel technology and it is seen as an extremely promising form of energy storage for long periods.
Experts believe that large amounts of energy will be required as countries transition away from easily-dispatchable coal or gas-fired power plants to intermittent energy sources such as wind farms and solar farms. These intermittent energy sources do not always produce energy at the time when it is most needed.
Highview’s Carrington facility will assist the National Grid in balancing the system, by drawing or supplying power when required.
The construction is expected to start “immediately”, with 700 jobs being created.
The company has successfully proven the concept in a 5 megawatt pilot plant in Pilsworth in Bury, a nearby town.
Highview hopes that the new facility can be used as a stepping stone to building 2.5 gigawatt plants in other parts of the UK.
Orsted, the world’s largest wind farm company, is looking into whether or not it can build energy storage systems for its giant wind farms.
Electricity System Operator of National Grid has stated that a total of thirteen gigawatts will be required for long-duration energy storage by 2035.
Richard Butland is the co-founder and CEO of Highview. He said: “This project has been under development for nearly 17 years, and will be one large long-term energy storage project being built worldwide.
“It’s a big step for Britain in terms of technology and decarbonisation.”
Chris O’Shea said that the energy transition could be a chance to transform lives in Britain.
“But, with the changing energy mix and increased intermittency of renewables, it is important to find new and innovative ways to store electricity so that our customers can have power when the sun and wind are not shining.
Low carbon storage is a key part of our solution to managing peaks in demand.
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