In a world first, the UK recently saw a liquid air energy storage (LAES) plant switched on in Bury near Manchester, soaking up excess electricity generated by an adjacent landfill gas facility for later use.
It marks the first time the nascent technology has been deployed commercially, and developer Highview Power believes LAES could soon rival other technologies such as batteries in the rapidly growing global energy storage market.
Capable of lasting for up to 40 years, LAES operations have a much longer lifespan than most batteries, and the technology has the potential to play a key role as the global electricity system shifts ever more towards clean, intermittent and renewable forms of generation.
The technology works by cooling air to -196C to turn it into liquid form, allowing it to be stored in high pressure tanks. When extra power is needed, the liquid is pumped and heated to turn it back into a gas, where it can be used to drive electricity turbines.
According to Bloomberg New Energy Finance, the global energy storage market could double in size six times over the next decade or so, growing to a cumulative 125GW/305GWh and attracting $103bn in investment by 2030.
Highview Power therefore hopes to be at the forefront of the energy storage boom, and is currently planning to add another LAES site in the UK in the near future.
Could the technology in the future rival batteries as a realistic, low cost and scalable proposition for the burgeoning energy storage market? BusinessGreen went to have a look.
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