Liquid Air Energy Storage (LAES) takes excess electricity from the grid at wrong times, such as during the night, and uses it to cool air until it liquefies at minus 196 degrees Celsius.
The liquid air can then be stored cheaply and safely until it is needed, when it is exposed to normal, ambient temperatures. The liquid immediately turns back into gas, expanding by 700 times, which is then used to turn a turbine and feed electricity back to the grid. The exhaust is cold air.
Critically, the system can be scaled to 100s of MWs of power and GWhs of storage, similar to medium scale pumped hydro, but without the requirement for mountains or large volumes of water.
Says Gareth Brett, CEO, “Whereas many companies were focusing on fast response but relatively small scale battery technologies, Highview started out five years ago to develop a system which could deliver affordable, long duration, large scale energy storage without the geographical constraints of pumped hydro or large-scale compressed air.
“Our pilot plant is fully operational on the UK grid and being tested for real-time peak shaving.
It is delivering very high levels of performance reliability. The system is simple and uses mature and readily available components and materials so is ready to be deployed at commercial scale. In fact our most exotic material is stainless steel.”
In addition to large scale energy storage, Highview’s technology can convert low-grade waste heat from co-located industrial processes to power and provide cooling for commercial use.
The technology was recently showcased at the UK’s 160 year old Institution of Mechanical Engineers. "Liquid Air Energy Storage is a very promising technology, using our most abundant resource to solve one of the renewable energy industry's most pressing challenges,” comments Dr Tim Fox, Head of Energy at the Institution.
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