UK firm Highview Power Storage and GE Oil & Gas have signed an agreement to collaborate on an energy storage project.

They will look into integrating Highview’s liquid air energy storage (LAES) technology in power plants where GE gas turbines (pictured, below) and engines will be installed. They aim to increase the plant’s efficiency, grid reliability and the distribution of renewable energy.

The LAES system uses liquid air or nitrogen as the storage medium to provide “long-duration energy storage without the geographical restrictions” found in other methods. It can also convert low-grade waste heat into power, which Highview claims increases the overall efficiency of the power plant.

Last month Highview and waste management firm Viridor was awarded an £8 million fund from DECC to build a new 5MW-15MW LAES demonstration plant as a landfill gas-to-energy facility in the UK. It will use a GE Oil & Gas turbo-generator and will show the technology at a commercial scale for the first time when it begins operating in spring next year.

Gareth Brett, CEO of Highview Power said: “The use of our LAES technology with GE’s solutions for flexible peaker plants will help make a significant contribution to balancing the electrical network of the future.”

Luca Maria Rossi, Product Management General Manager for GE Oil & Gas’ Turbomachinery Solutions business added: “Operators increasingly need to integrate intermittent and non-dispatchable renewable energy sources into the current energy grid. Energy storage is an application that can help address this need.”