As the energy transition builds, and renewable energy grows in the mix, the question of how to store electricity most effectively for grid flexibility has been climbing the agenda. Gas-fired power plants are the most common fast-response option of choice today, increasingly allied to lithium-ion batteries to manage short-duration balancing challenges.
But it is well understood that another piece in the puzzle is needed in the form of low-carbon long-duration energy storage. This means large stores of low- or zero-carbon energy that can be accessed and used from four to up to 20 hours at a time, and sometimes even longer.
One of the leading moves in this space is a cryogenic technology that delivers precisely such long-duration storage – the use of liquid air to deliver stored energy.
On an international stage, the first mover on this opportunity today is a UK company called Highview Power that is now making serious strides. And more than a decade on from proving its technology with a small-scale pilot project near London, a first commercial-scale plant is taking shape, to be followed by four much larger plants by 2030, with two to be built in Scotland and two in England.
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