Battery technology group Highview has secured £300million to build a large, renewable power storage facility in Manchester from investors including Centrica and Denmark’s Kristiansen family, the owners of Lego.
Highview said that the money will be used to help build the first commercial scale liquid air energy storage (LAES) plant in the UK. Construction will start immediately and once complete, it will be able to store 300 megawatts of power and output 50mws per hour. It is scheduled to be operational by early 2026.
The plant can store energy generated by renewable sources for several weeks, far longer than conventional battery technology, which Highview says will help National Grid balance supply and demand, while reducing Britain’s reliance on fossil fuel back up power plants.
Aside from British Gas owner Centrica and the Kristiansen family, other investors include the UK Infrastructure Bank, Goldman Sachs and Mosaic Capital.
Highview, which has spent 17 years developing its LAES technology, says it has started planning work on four larger scale 2.5 gigawatt facilities, which it aims to complete by 2035. Aside from boosting the UK’s energy security by increasing the reliability of renewables, it says its plans will support over 6,000 jobs and contribute billions to the economy.
“There is no energy transition without storage. The UK’s investment in world-leading offshore wind and renewables requires a national long duration energy storage programme to capture excess wind and support the grids transformation,” said Highview co-founder and chief executive Richard Butland.
“Our first project in Carrington will be the foundation for our full scale roll-out in the UK and expansion with partners to share this British technology internationally.”