Issue link: https://read.utilityweek.co.uk/i/665572
NETWORK / 21 / APRIL 2016 WHAT STORAGE DEVELOPERS WANT: Remove balancing charges – a double hit currently adds lots to the cost of projects Make it a separate licenced activity – and thereby allow DNOs to own and operate storage Allow it to secure a contract for difference – the scheme should recognise hybrid technology Remove end user classifi cation – which means storage is hit by the Climate Change Levy Remove artifi cial licensing limits – which constrain the size of upcoming pumped hydro projects, among the most mature technologies CASE STUDY HIGHVIEW POWER STORAGE – LIQUID AIR ENERGY STORAGE ABOUT HIGHVIEW There are only two Liquid Air Energy Storage (LAES) facilities in the world, and Highview Power Storage designed and built both of them. It has spent 11 years developing the technology, and between 2011 and 2014 it tested a fully integrated 350kW pilot plant hosted by SSE at its Slough heat and power 80MW biomass plant in greater London. More recently Highview was awarded £8 million by the Department of Energy and Climate Change to design, build and test a 5MW pre-commercial demonstrator. The storage facility, due to be opened in the fi rst half of 2016, is situated alongside recycling and waste management fi rm and project partner Viridor's Pilsworth landfi ll gas generation plant in greater Manchester. The plant will use waste heat in the process to greatly improve the effi ciency of the technology, but it can be used on its own. HOW LAES WORKS LAES is comparable to compressed air storage, and has similar capabilities to pumped hydro – but without the geographical constraints. Liquid air is delivered to the site and stored in insulated tanks at low pressure. When power is LET'S GO ROUND AGAIN: ROUND- TRIP EFFICIENCIES OF A RANGE OF ENERGY-STORAGE TECHNOLOGIES Flywheel – 70-95 % Lithium-ion – 85-90 % Pumped hydro – 70-85% Copper-zinc – +80% Lead-acid – 60-80% Compressed air – 40-75% required, the liquid air is returned, by applying heat, to a high-pressure gaseous state in which it can drive a turbine. LAES FACTS 60% effi cient on its own, rising to 70% or more when combined with waste heat – higher with coal. Suitable for grid-scale applications such as short-term operating reserve and triad avoidance. Synchronisation with the grid can give almost instantaneous response rates, capable of providing frequency response. Environmentally friendly mechanical, rather than chemical, storage. Life of 30 years or more. $200 per kWh. UK Storage players Five UK energy storage players you should know: RedT has 19 market-seeding units for its vanadium fl ow batteries globally. Cumulus Energy Storage has a copper-zinc battery technology that it says offers low-cost grid-level storage. Quarry Battery Company has identifi ed 1.5GW of suitable sites – such as disused quarries – for small-scale pumped hydro storage. Upside hopes to aggregate the potential of 6GW of storage already lying dormant in UK uninterruptible power supplies. Powervault says it will "take on Tesla" by installing 50,000 2 and 4kWh home energy storage systems by 2020.