Highview sponsors research chair at £6m Cryogenic Energy centre01 July 2014

Liquid air energy storage (LAES) systems developer Highview Power Storage is co-sponsoring a research chair with the Royal Academy of Engineering at the world's first research centre for cryogenic energy storage, at the University of Birmingham.

Professor Yulong Ding takes up the five-year post as the newly appointed Highview Power Storage Royal Academy Chamberlain chair in energy storage.

To support the new £6m Cryogenic Energy Storage Centre, Highview will now relocate its 350kW/2.5MWh LAES pilot plant to Birmingham.

"The UK has a long history in cryogenics and now has the opportunity to develop a solution for one of the world's toughest problems – how to store energy at large scale," comments Gareth Brett, chief executive officer of Highview Power Storage.

"Our system uses readily available components from mature industrial supply chains, and has no geographical constraints – meaning it can be deployed anywhere in the world," he continues.

"This is important, as electricity networks are now focused on resolving the challenges of integrating larger levels of intermittent renewable generation, with storage playing a major role."

Highview's LAES plant functions by using excess, off-peak or industrial waste energy to draw in ambient air from the environment, where it is cleaned, compressed and then refrigerated until it liquefies.

700 litres of ambient air becomes 1 litre of liquid air, which can be held in an insulated storage tank at low pressure without significant losses. When power is required, liquid air is drawn from the tank, pumped to high-pressure and heated – producing a high-pressure gas that is then used to drive a turbine and, i turn, a generator to produce electricity.

"My research will cover materials, thermodynamic processes and cycles, storage component and devices, system integration and optimisation, and applications of cryogenic energy storage," states Professor Ding.

The goal is to keep the UK's leading edge in the area of cryogenic energy storage and to facilitate industrial applications of the technology."

"Energy storage is one of the eight great technologies selected for fast-track development by the government for their potential to give the UK a technological and commercial advantage worldwide," comments Professor Ric Parker, chair of the Royal Academy of Engineering's research and secondment committee.

"It is predicted that a developing energy storage sector alone could create £12bn of new business revenue in the UK by 2050," he adds.

And Professor Richard Williams, pro-vice-chancellor at the University of Birmingham, says: "Energy storage is a key research area at the university. We are delighted Professor Ding was appointed to this chair which also carries the inaugural 'chamberlain chair' designation marking an appointment of a strategic area of major societal importance."

Brian Tinham

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