Energy storage will deliver ‘tens of billions of pounds a year’

This week’s Net Hero Podcast delves into how energy storage is being underappreciated as a key to cutting costs on our energy bills

In this week’s Net Hero Podcast, Sumit Bose spoke with Highview Power’s Rupert Pearce about the role that energy storage could have in lowering our bills.

Following Ofgem’s announcement that the price cap would rise to £3,549 this October, many are scrambling for the best way to cut this cost and level out energy prices never before seen in the market.

Earlier this week, the European Commission announced its desire to separate the electricity and gas markets in an attempt to ensure electricity prices reflect the price of renewables, rather than gas – what is the UK doing?

At a time when energy costs a premium, how can we let “more than 3TW of offshore wind” go to waste “because the demand isn’t there to take it when the wind blows?” – as Mr Pearce explains will happen this year.

Could the real answer to cutting this cost actually lay in energy storage?

Highview Power compresses and freezes air using renewable electricity, which turns it into liquid air full of energy, which is then stored.

“In an environment in which renewable energy is now the cheapest and most sovereign form of energy there is, it’s incumbent on us to capture as much of that as possible,” he explains.

“Bringing long duration energy storage into the UK economy will deliver tens of billions of pounds worth of benefits a year – and that translates straight into the pockets of consumers.

“Without storage, we will be dependent on others for our energy security, through interconnectors and gas. That is not acceptable given what we’ve learned in recent weeks.”

Mr Pearce reveals the savings to the entire British economy that energy storage can provide and how this can help protect customers’ pockets during the cost-of-living crisis, whilst also flying the green flag for the UK’s energy mix.

Listen to the full episode above.

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