The first awards of funding designed to “turbocharge” UK projects developing long-duration energy storage technologies have been made by the country’s government, with £6.7 million (US$9.11 million) pledged. 

The total £68 million competitive funding opportunity was launched by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) in June 2021 through the national Net Zero Innovation Portfolio (NZIP).

Announced this morning — as BEIS innovation programme manager Georgina Morris prepares to join speakers at the Energy Storage Summit 2022 in London today and tomorrow, hosted by our publisher, Solar Media —  a total of 24 projects have now received funding through the Longer Duration Energy Storage Demonstration Programme. 

The awards are split into two streams: Stream 1 is for demonstration projects of technologies considered close to commercialisation and aiming to accelerate that process so that they can be deployed on the UK energy system. Stream 2 seeks to accelerate the commercialisation of innovative projects through building “first-of-a-kind” prototypes of full systems. 

The five awarded Stream 1 projects are a membrane free green hydrogen electrolyser, gravity-based energy storage, vanadium redox flow battery (VRFB), advanced compressed air energy storage (A-CAES) and a bundled solution of pressurised seawater and compressed air.

Thermal storage technologies were eligible, but none have received funding. 

Stream 1 projects will receive funding ranging from £471,760 to £1 million per project. 

There are however six thermal energy storage technologies among the 19 Stream 2 awardees. Stream 2 winners must deliver feasibility study reports for their proposed technologies and contribute to knowledge sharing and “sector capacity-building,” BEIS said. 

Stream 2 funding ranging from £79,560 to £150,000 went to the six thermal storage projects, four power-to-x category projects and nine electrical energy storage projects. 

Awardees

Stream 1

Technology type	Project name	Lead party	Location	Technology/scope	Funding (£)
Power-to-x energy storage	Ballylumford Power-to-X	B9 Energy Storage	Ballylumford, Northern Ireland	20MW green hydrogen electrolyser storing curtailed wind in salt caverns	986,082
Electrical energy storage	GraviSTORE	Gravitricity	Northern England	Multiweight energy storage charged and discharged by lifting and lowering weights in an underground vertical shaft	912,410.84
Electrical energy storage	Long Duration Offshore Storage Bundle	Subsea 7 Limited	Aberdeen, Scotland	Combining pressurised seawater and compressed air using hydro-pneumatic tech	471,760
Electrical energy storage	Vanadium Flow Battery Longer Duration Energy Asset Demonstrator	Invinity Energy Systems	Bathgate, Scotland	Delivering power on demand from solar PV using 40MWh vanadium flow battery storage system	708,371
Electrical energy storage	Cheshire Energy Storage Centre	io consulting	Cheshire, UK	Using Hydrostor’s A-CAES tech to store energy as compressed air in defunct EDF gas cavities	1,000,000

Stream 2

Technology type	Project name	Lead party	Location	Technology/scope	Funding (£)
Thermal energy storage	EXTEND	Sunamp	East Lothian, Scotland	Feasibility study to extend duration of phase change material (PCM) based thermal storage for heating and hot water	149,893
Thermal energy storage	Exergy3	University of Edinburgh	Edinburgh, Scotland	Prepare testing of 36MWh ultra-high temperature energy storage system for industrial process decarbonisation	149,779
Thermal energy storage	ADSorB	Active Building Centre Research Programme (Swansea University)	Swansea, Wales	Developing long-duration thermal storage and control systems for domestic heating and grid support	143,440
Thermal energy storage	PTES Demonstrator	SynchroStor	Edinburgh, Scotland	Feasibility study for repeatable grid-scale pumped thermal storage system	79,560
Thermal energy storage	Utilising Composite Phase Change Materials	Vital Energi	Blackburn, England	Support development of PCM-based thermal storage	131,214
Thermal energy storage	INHERENT	Energy Systems Catapult Services Limited	Birmingham, England	Demonstrate ability of domestic thermal storage to provide low-cost, long-duration storage	149,831
Power-to-X energy storage	HyDUS	EDF R&D UK	Oxfordshire, England	Tech transfer and modification of metal hydride storage used in fusion sector for hydrogen (protium) storage	149,602
Power-to-X energy storage	HEOS	Haskins & Davey	Chester, England	Feasibility study for power-to-x tech based on storing hydrogen in metal hydride	141,000
Power-to-X energy storage	RIPCURL	ITM Power	Sheffield, England	R&D into reducing reliance on Platinum Group Metal (PGM) in hydrogen electrolyser cells	149,388
Power-to-X energy storage	Hydrilite Refueller Prototype	Corre Energy	Wales	Long-duration hydrogen storage using patented storage medium Carbon280 Hydrilite	149,922
Electrical energy storage	FlexiTanker	Cheesecake Energy	Nottingham, England	Develop thermal and compressed air technology	139,411
Electrical energy storage	Sustainable Single Liquid Flow Battery	StorTera	Edinburgh, Scotland	Specify and cost MW-scale lithium sulfur flow battery demonstrator project	148,940
Electrical energy storage	High-Density Hydro Energy Storage	RheEnergise	London, England	Developing cost-optimised energy storage solution based on pumped hydro principles	149,537
Electrical energy storage	e-Zinc Energy Storage Systems	e-Zinc	UK (unspecified)	Accelerate commercialisation of zinc-based battery storage	144,990
Electrical energy storage	BlueStor	MSE International	Portsmouth, England	Feasibility study for marine and port-based energy storage using organic flow battery tech	149,779
Electrical energy storage	Marine Pumped Hydro	RCAM Technologies	Edinburgh, Scotland	Developing marine pumped hydro tech using 3D printed concrete	150,000
Electrical energy storage	Feasibility of Compressed Air Energy Storage in the Offshore UK Continental Shelf	Crondall Energy	UK (unspecified)	Develop application of compressed air storage on UK continental shelf	149,086
Electrical energy storage	Co-location of Flow Battery Storage with Solar PV	Locogen	Edinburgh, Scotland	Assess feasibility of colocating existing PV and flow batteries	121,400
Electrical energy storage	Renewable Copper	Energy Systems Catapult Services	Birmingham, England	Develop copper/zinc battery storage with 4-12 hour duration ahead of planned demonstrator in Scotland	149,954

After launching the competition last year, BEIS opened up a three-month Call for Evidence on long-duration energy storage in July, assessing how best to enable long-duration technologies at scale.

A recent report from energy industry consultancy Aurora Energy Research found that up to 24GW of energy storage with a duration of four hours or greater could be needed to enable a net zero energy system in the UK by 2035. 

This would enable the integration of variable renewable energy generation and also lower household energy bills by £1.13 billion a year in 2035. It could also reduce the country’s reliance on gas by 50TWh each year and lead to a 10MtCO2 reduction in emissions. 

Aurora said however that high upfront costs, long lead times as well as a lack of revenue certainty and market signals are resulting in long-duration energy storage being underinvested into. Policy support and market reforms were recommended in the group’s report. 

Another report by KPMG published a few weeks ago said that a cap and floor mechanism would be the best way to reduce investor risk while encouraging operators of long-duration facilities to respond to electricity system requirements. 

In the US, the Department of Energy is hosting the Energy Storage Grand Challenge, a policy-driven effort to reduce costs and accelerate the adoption of energy storage, including a similar competitive funding opportunity for long-duration technologies and projects. Its aims include reducing the cost of long-duration energy storage 90% by 2030.

Meanwhile a cluster of European trade associations made a recent plea for the European Union (EU) to take a similarly proactive stance to support long-duration energy storage, particularly in the European Green Deal package.