The Pilsworth facility is the world’s first grid-scale Liquid Air Energy Storage (LAES) plant. Highview Power and project partner Viridor (a recycling and renewable energy company) were awarded more than £8 million in funding for the project from the UK Government.
Highview Power’s proprietary LAES technology is based on the principle of air liquefaction, which enables the easy storage of gases in cryogenic liquid form. Recovering the stored energy utilises the large expansion in volume from liquid back to gas, powering turbines and generating electricity.
This enables Highview’s system to store energy in increments measured in days rather than hours at a significantly lower cost of storage compared to lithium-ion batteries. With zero emissions in the process, it utilises long-proven technology with an economic useful life of over 30 years.
Since its official opening on 5th June, 2018, the facility has demonstrated how LAES technology can operate at scale and it will also provide balancing services such as Short-Term Operating Reserve (STOR) and help to reduce consumption during winter peaks. In addition, the 5 MW plant can deliver power to around 5,000 average-sized homes for several hours.
In addition to providing energy storage, the plant also converts waste heat to power from the onsite landfill gas engines.
Reference- globenewswire, Highview Power PR, CNBC website