World's largest liquid air battery to be built in UK

Schematic diagram of the 50MW/250MWh liquid-cooled battery project. Image source: Highview Power

The UK government’s Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) has announced that it will grant £10 million ($12.44 million) to help build the world’s largest liquid air battery.

Carlton Highview Storage, a joint venture between UK independent power station developer Carlton Power and long-duration energy storage company Highview Power Storage, will build a 50MW/250MWh liquid-cooled power station in Trafford, Greater Manchester, England.

This will be the world's first commercial liquid air energy storage system and will provide long-term energy storage services to the UK's transmission system operator National Grid. The system cools and compresses air so that it becomes a liquid that can be stored in industrial containers. This energy can then be used to drive turbines to generate electricity when needed. It will work in conjunction with a combined cycle gas turbine (CCGT) power plant, which will be able to provide the electricity needed to drive this process.

Carlton Power CEO Keith Clarke said the company looked at a number of different large-scale, long-duration energy storage technologies before choosing Highview’s liquid air storage “because it is scalable, clean, can provide the grid services we need and can be deployed now.”

“We are also keen to work with Highview Power to explore opportunities to combine liquid-cooled batteries with the gas-fired power plant we have approved for construction at Trafford Energy Park. This ‘hybrid CCGT’ will be an important tool in getting the UK to net zero carbon emissions.

Over time, CCGT units could be adapted to use zero-carbon hydrogen fuel, or modified to include carbon capture and storage technology to facilitate the achievement of net-zero carbon emissions.

The liquid-cooled power station at Trafford Energy Park, eight miles south of Manchester, is the largest of its kind in Europe and will provide grid services, enabling better integration of renewable energy and helping to stabilise the grid and avoid blackouts.

According to Carlton Highview Storage, its revenue will come from electricity price arbitrage, grid balancing, capacity markets and ancillary services.

Highview has been working on building a liquid gas energy storage base in the UK for several years, first unveiling a demonstration device in 2015. Two years ago, the company launched a larger 5MW/15MWh "commercial demonstration" plant in partnership with UK recycling, renewable energy development and waste management company Viridor. The company first announced plans for a 250MWh liquid cooling center in the UK in October 2019.

(Original source: Energy Storage News New Energy Network Comprehensive)