UK Offers £30 Million For Capture & Storage Of More Renewable Energy

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Renewable businesses, in locations including Scotland and Nottingham, are set to benefit from a £30 million support that has come from the UK government in terms of designing and testing innovative technology of the future that will modernise energy system and storage for renewable energy for later use.

UK Government has said that capturing and storing renewable energy for use when and where it is needed will play an essential role in powering Britain. The funding will support these businesses testing and preparing their technologies to be ready for the energy market, encouraging private investment and creating new jobs in the renewable segment across the UK.

The UK Government said that the nature of renewables means that on windy, sunny days sometimes more renewable electricity is generated than is needed. Energy storage technology will soak up this excess energy for later use. This will maximise the use of renewable energy, boosting energy security and supplying energy to consumers at a lower cost.

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As per the UK government statement, flexibility from electricity storage and smart charging of electric vehicles could save up to £10 billion per year by 2050. Accelerating the uptake of renewable energy storage technology will also mean National Grid of the UK can balance the grid by activating storage systems instead of asking certain power generation technologies to switch off, further reducing costs to the taxpayer.

Minister for Energy Security and Net Zero, UK, Graham Stuart stated, “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.”

At present, the UK government is backing three UK businesses to make their projects a reality. The winning projects will now go on to fully deploy and demonstrate their technologies are Synchrostor, Cumbernauld, Scotland, which will receive £9.4 million to build a Pumped Thermal Energy Storage (PTES) grid-connected demonstration plant operating at 1 MW; Invinity Energy (UK) Limited, Scotland, which will receive £11 million to develop and manufacture their 7 MW, 30 MWh four-hour Vanadium Flow Battery (VFB), the largest in the UK. Invinity 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.

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This announcement follows the £32.8 million funding awarded to five UK energy storage projects across the country in November 2022 to create first-of-a-kind prototypes of their technology. A total of £69 million of funding has been awarded so far through this programme, helping to drive innovative technologies such as energy storage.