The government has awarded £30 million in funding for designing and testing innovative technology to store renewable energy.
Minister for Energy Security and Net Zero Graham Stuart said:
Storing energy for longer periods is vital to build a robust and secure energy system and ensure that renewable energy is used efficiently. Fortunately the UK has a wealth of pioneering businesses that are making their mark on this industry.
Today we’re backing three UK businesses to make their projects a reality, which will go on to play a role in our country’s energy security.
The winning projects are:
- Synchrostor, Edinburgh, Scotland, which will receive £9.4 million to build a Pumped Thermal Energy Storage (PTES) grid-connected demonstration plant operating at 1MW, with the ability to charge and discharge for a period of 10 hours, longer than current battery technology
- Invinity Energy (UK) Limited, Scotland, which will receive £11 million to develop and manufacture their 7MW, 30MWh 4-hour Vanadium Flow Battery (VFB), the largest in the UK. Invinity will manufacture the 30 MWh VFB at the Company’s factory in West Lothian, Scotland. The location of the plant will be confirmed in due course; and
- Cheesecake Energy Ltd, Nottingham, which will receive £9.4 million to test their FlexiTanker technology which stores electricity using a combination of thermal and compressed air energy storage and uses a reversible air compression / expansion train to charge and discharge. They will then install pilot units at 2 sites within a microgrid development in Colchester.
This announcement follows the £32.8 million funding awarded to five UK energy storage projects in November 2022 to create prototypes of their technology. A total of £69 million of funding has been awarded so far through this programme.
The £69 million Longer Duration Energy Storage Demonstration competition is funded through the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy’s £1 billion Net Zero Innovation Portfolio, which aims to accelerate the commercialisation of innovative clean energy technologies and processes through the 2020s and 2030s.
