Media Archive 2013 | Highview Power Storage

20th May 2013, MIT Technology Review

Liquefied Air Could Power Cars and Storage Energy from Sun and Wind

Some engineers are dusting off an old idea for storing energy—using electricity to liquefy air by cooling it down to nearly 200 °C below zero. When power is needed, the liquefied air is allowed to warm up and expand to drive a steam turbine and generator.

The concept is being evaluated by a handful of companies that produce liquefied nitrogen as a way to store energy from intermittent renewable energy sources. Liquefied air might also be used to drive pistons in the engines of low-emission vehicles.

12th May 2013, Gasworld

Two liquid air projects through to feasibility stage of competition

Highview Power Storage, an award-winning UK developer of utility scale liquid air energy storage technologies, has had two multi-MW projects successfully put through to the feasibility stage of DECC’s Energy Storage Technology Demonstration Competition.

The news comes in the same week that a major new report from business and academic experts highlighted the ‘critical role’ that liquid air could play in Britain’s low carbon energy future.

10th May 2013, NewNet

Highview Power Storage see interest from Chinese investors

Highview Power Storage, which this week secured financing from the UK government, has revealed to NewNet that Chinese investors have shown an interest in licencing its liquid air energy storage business, representing ‘huge potential’ for the company.

9th May 2013, Bloomberg

Renewable Power Could Be Stored as Liquid Air, U.K. Lobby Says

The technology would address the “fundamental problem” of how to store energy from renewable sources when it’s not needed and may create as many as 22,000 jobs by 2050, lobby group Centre for Low Carbon Futures said today in the report.

“We have an opportunity, and growing need, to scale up our investment in technologies that will ensure the energy from renewables is not wasted, and the opportunities for the U.K. industrial sector are not lost,” Richard Williams, pro-vice chancellor at the University of Birmingham, who led the study, said in a statement.

9th May 2013, Engineering and Technology Magazine

Liquid air energy storage could become £1bn industry

Liquid air energy storage technology could unlock a £1bn industry and 22,000 UK jobs, according to a new report.

Professor Richard Williams, pro-vice chancellor of the University of Birmingham, who led the report, says: “Solving Britain’s energy crisis requires better ways to store the power of the wind and the sun at large scale without relying on scarce natural resources, and liquid air provides a missing piece of that puzzle.”

9th May 2013, Gasworld

Liquid air could unlock £1bn business and 22,000 UK jobs

Liquid air is a proven energy storage technology that could play a critical role in Britain’s low carbon energy future, according to a major new report from business and academic experts.

The use of liquid air could increase UK energy security, cut greenhouse gas emissions, and create a storage industry worth at least £1bn pa and 22,000 jobs, the report found.

The news comes as the report is officially launched today at the Liquid Air Energy Conference in London, UK.

9th May 2013, H&V News

12 projects through to feasibility stage of DECC’s storage competition

DECC has announced a total of 12 projects have been selected under the first phase of the Energy Storage Technology Demonstration Competition launched in October last year to carry out feasibility studies.

Two of the projects are from Highview Power Storage, UK developer of utility scale liquid air energy storage technologies.

9th May 2013, Energy Live News

Plans whoosh on for commercial liquid air energy plant

Plans are whooshing onwards for a new commercial scale power plant which uses air to make electricity.

National Grid, engineers at Costain and energy technology firm Highview Power Storage have teamed up to submit a feasibility study of the proposed liquid air energy storage plant as part of DECC’s energy storage demonstration competition.

9th May 2013, The Engineer

First commercial liquid air plant among UK competition winners

Construction of Britain’s first commercial-scale liquid air energy storage plant could begin this year after the government revealed the winners of its new technology competition.

The announcement that two liquid air-based facilities are among the 12 projects to share £500,000 for feasibility studies into a range of energy storage systems comes as a new report argues cryogenic technology could create a £1bn industry and 22,000 jobs in the UK.

9th May 2013, Business Green

Energy storage market makes case for 5GW target by 2020

The winners included Highview, which has developed a system that uses liquid nitrogen to achieve the triple goals of storing energy, converting waste heat to power, and delivering air conditioning.

Today, the UK has 3GW of pumped hydro storage, most of which is located in North Wales to provide reserve power for now defunct nuclear and coal plants. But with an increasing amount of renewable energy being added to the grid, ESN believes storage capacity should be ramped up to at least 5GW by the end of the decade.

The association today urged the government to set a clear target to install an additonal 2GW of storage capacity by 2020, requiring an investment of £4bn, but potentially saving £3bn per year by 2020.

8th May 2013, Department of Energy and Climate Change, Press Release

£21million for carbon cutting technologies

16 organisations have been awarded a share of £2 million to help develop innovative storage solutions for energy. Energy storage systems are designed to store electricity generated at a time of low demand to be used a later time when demand is high. Such systems have an important part to play in supporting the growth of low carbon technologies but further funding is needed to help drive forward innovation and encourage private sector investment.

April edition, ATSE Focus

Is liquid air the missing link in energy storage?

There are alternatives. For example, in the UK there is a growing interest in the notion of cryogenic liquids. These are reported to be at a lower cost point and more likely to be suitable where solar energy can be used to drive compressors to compress air to liquid air (as cryogenic fluids). Liquid air is potentially an energy vector in itself and vaporisation of the liquid using low-grade waste heat makes for a very efficient system that then drives a generator. The round-trip efficiency of these systems rivals batteries.

26th March, Renewable Energy Magazine

RAE hosts one-day conference on Liquid Air Energy

These cryogenic liquids are already widely used in industry but their potential for use as an energy vector is only just beginning to be explored. Consequently, discussion concerning liquid air is not yet part of the mainstream energy debate, despite the apparent huge potential the technology offers. For example it is uniquely able to recover low grade waste heat from sources such as thermal generation, data centres and industrial processes as well as vehicle engines. This heat can then be turned into power and a number of British organisations are developing ways to exploit the technology as a zero emission store and transport fuel. This would in turn create a huge economic opportunity for the UK.

22nd March H&V News

Royal Academy of Engineering to host conference on Liquid Air

A six-month study on the potential of liquid air as a new and sustainable energy vector, published by the Centre for Low Carbon Futures, will be presented at a one-day conference hosted by the Royal Academy of Engineering on the 9 May.

Liquid air is a new energy storage technology that many experts believe could help meet some of our toughest energy challenges, including energy security and zero-emission transport.

17th March ABC News

Car Runs on Nothing But Air

If you’re looking for the car of the future, look no further than Peter Dearman’s rusty, 25-year-old Vauxhall Nova.

A beer keg sits in the messy trunk. Pipes run through the middle of the car, which is littered with wrenches and loose bolts. Under the hood, a red, plastic garbage can holds anti-freeze that spills over the sides and a piece of wood holds, well, everything else together.

4th March The Conversation

The missing link: why Australia needs energy storage

Professor Richard Williams discusses the potential of liquid air energy.

Liquid air is potentially an energy vector in itself; vapourising the liquid using low grade waste heat makes for a very efficient system that then drives a generator.

1st February New Scientist (German edition)

Windktaft in die Flasche

25th January, Azocleantech

Liquid Batteries

One of the major drawbacks of solar and wind energy is that wind and the sun do not produce enough energy on a continuous scale. It is said that wind turbines tend to be productive only when the demand for power is low (during morning and evening) and become passive by the middle of the day when the need for electricity increases. So that poses a question about energy storage and whether it could be a potential solution, ensuring we get the best out of our renewables. Energy storage could ensure stable power supply during the day as well as at night.

5th January, Development Scout

Erste Studie uber Energiespeicherung mit flussiger Luft (German)

Eine Arbeitsgruppe aus führenden Wissenschaftlern, Forschungsinstituten, Branchenfachleuten und energiepolitischen Experten erarbeitet zurzeit einen Fachbericht zur Erkundung des energietechnischen und wirtschaftlichen Potenzials von flüssiger Luft. Damit gehen die Experten der Frage nach, ob dieses Medium im globalen Konzept einer umweltfreundlichen Energieversorgung eine strategische Rolle spielen kann.

2nd January, New Scientist

Into thin air: Storage salvation for green energy

However, air may yet hold the key to energy storage – in liquid form. For the past two years, on a patch of land not much bigger than a basketball court in Slough, UK, a liquid air pilot storage plant has been quietly generating electricity using the excess energy from a neighbouring biomass plant. This tangle of gleaming white pipes and tanks has enough advantages over rival technologies to have been hailed as a critical part of our energy future. “This could save the UK billions,” says Tim Fox, head of energy and environment at the Institution of Mechanical Engineers in London.