Plans whoosh on for commercial liquid air energy plant

Plans are whooshing onwards for a new commercial scale power plant which uses air to make electricity. National Grid, engineers at Costain and energy technology firm Highview Power Storage have […]

Plans are whooshing onwards for a new commercial scale power plant which uses air to make electricity.

National Grid, engineers at Costain and energy technology firm Highview Power Storage have teamed up to submit a feasibility study of the proposed liquid air energy storage plant as part of DECC’s energy storage demonstration competition.

Building at the power plant will begin in the summer if it gets final consent. The grid scale plant will have an output of 6MW with enough space to store around five hours of operation (30MWhs), making it the largest demonstration of new energy storage technology in the UK.

Highview has already run a successful pilot scheme proving surplus electricity can be used to liquefy air, store it until needed and warm it to generate electricity.

Gareth Brett, chief executive of Highview Power said: “This is a great opportunity to showcase a British innovation that has the potential to make a major contribution in terms of helping balance electricity systems in the future; it does this by storing energy produced by wind and other intermittent renewable sources and giving it back to the grid when required.”

It will be built at National Grid’s Grain Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) import terminal on the Isle of Grain in Kent (pictured).

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