Can Highview Power’s CRYOBattery Compete With Pumped Storage Hydroelectricity?
In this article on the Telegraph, Rupert Pearce, who is Highview’s chief executive and ex-head of the satellite company Inmarsat, discloses this.
Highview is well beyond the pilot phase and is developing its first large UK plant in Humberside, today Britain’s top hub for North Sea wind. It will offer 2.5GW for over 12 hours, or 0.5GW for over 60 hours, and so forth, and should be up and running by late 2024.
The Humberside plant is new to me, as it has not been previously announced by Highview Power.
- If it is built it will be megahuge with a storage capacity of 30 GWh and a maximum output of 2.5 GW.
- Humberside with its connections to North Sea Wind, will be an ideal location for a huge CRYOBattery.
- The world’s largest pumped storage hydroelectric power station is Fengning Pumped Storage Power Station in China and it is 40 GWh.
Pumped storage hydroelectric power stations are the gold standard of energy storage.
In the UK we have four pumped storage hydroelectric power stations.
- Cruachan Power Station – 7.1 GWh
- Dinorwig Power Station (Electric Mountain) – 9.1 GWh
- Falls of Foyers – 10 GWh
- Ffestiniog Power Station 1 GWh
With two more under construction.
- Coire Glas Power Station – 30 GWh
- Red John Power Station – 2.8 GWh
As energy is agnostic, 30 GWh of pumped storage hydroelectric power at Coire Glas is the equivalent of 30 GWh in Highview Power’s proposed Humberside CRYOBattery.
Advantages Of CRYOBatteries Over Pumped Storage Hydroelectric Power
I can think of these advantages.
- Cost
- Could be build on the flat lands of East Anglia or Lincolnshire
- Factory-built
- NIMBYs won’t have much to argue about
- No dams
- No flooding of valleys
- No massive construction sites.
- No mountains required
- No tunnels
- Small footprint
I suspect that a large CRYOBattery could be built well within a year of starting construction.
Rupert Pearce’s Dream
The Telegraph article says this and I suspect it’s a quote from Rupert Pearce.
Further projects will be built at a breakneck speed of two to three a year during the 2020s, with a target of 20 sites able to provide almost 6GW of back-up electricity for four days at a time, or whatever time/power mix is optimal.
6 GW for four days is 576 GWh, which if it were spread around twenty sites is 28.8 GWh per site, which is just under the 30 GWh of the proposed Humberside CRYOBattery.
Conclusion
You can just imagine the headlines in The Sun!
Man In Bishop’s Stortford Shed Saves The World!
This story on the BBC, which is entitled Meet The British Inventor Who Came Up With A Green Way Of Generating Electricity From Air – In His Shed, explains my suggested headline.
Now that’s what I call success!
How Will Highview Power Affect The Lithium-Ion Grid Battery Market?
In this article on the Telegraph, Rupert Pearce, who is Highview’s chief executive and ex-head of the satellite company Inmarsat, discloses this.
Highview is well beyond the pilot phase and is developing its first large UK plant in Humberside, today Britain’s top hub for North Sea wind. It will offer 2.5GW for over 12 hours, or 0.5GW for over 60 hours, and so forth, and should be up and running by late 2024.
The Humberside plant is new to me, as it has not been previously announced by Highview Power.
- If it is built it will be megahuge with a storage capacity of 30 GWh and a maximum output of 2.5 GW.
- Humberside with its connections to North Sea Wind, will be an ideal location for a huge CRYOBattery.
- The world’s largest battery is at Ouarzazate Solar Power Station in Morocco and it is 3 GWh.
- The world’s largest pumped storage power station is Fengning Pumped Storage Power Station in China and it is 40 GWh.
The proposed Humberside battery also has a smaller sibling under construction at Carrington in Manchester.
This will have a storage capacity of 250 MWh and a maximum output of 50 MW.
Factors Affecting The Choice
Several factors will affect the choice between lithium-ion batteries and Highview Power’s CRYOBattery.
Reliability
Reliability is paramount and whilst lithium-ion batteries batteries have a high level of reliability, there probably needs to be more development and quality assurance before CRYOBatteries have a similar level of reliability.
Size
The largest lithium-ion battery, that has been proposed in the UK, is the 320 MW/640 MWh battery that will be installed at the Gateway Energy Centre in Essex.
This size of CRYOBattery should be possible, but this size is probably in range of both lithium-ion and CRYOBatteries.
Safety
The Wikipedia entry for Battery Storage Power Station has this to say about Safety.
Some batteries operating at high temperatures (sodium–sulfur battery) or using corrosive components are subject to calendar ageing, or failure even if not used. Other technologies suffer from cycle ageing, or deterioration caused by charge-discharge cycles. This deterioration is generally higher at high charging rates. These two types of ageing cause a loss of performance (capacity or voltage decrease), overheating, and may eventually lead to critical failure (electrolyte leaks, fire, explosion).
An example of the latter was a Tesla Megapack in Geelong which caught fire, fire and subsequent explosion of battery farm in Arizona, fire of Moss Landing battery farm. Concerns about possible fire and explosion of a battery module were also raised during residential protests against Cleve Hill solar farm in United Kingdom. Battery fire in Illinois resulted in “thousands of residents” being evacuated, and there were 23 battery farm fires in South Korea over the period of two years. Battery fires may release a number of dangerous gases, including highly corrosive and toxic hydrogen fluoride.
The long term safety of a CRYOBattery is probably not yet known in detail, but I suspect in some applications, CRYOBatteries could be safer than chemical batteries.
Environmental Factors
I suspect that CRYOBatteries can be built without any hard-to-mine or environmentally-unfriendly materials like lithium.
Cost
The article in The Telegraph, says this about costs.
Mr Pearce said Highview’s levelised cost of energy (LCOE) would start at $140-$150, below lithium, and then slide on a “glide path” to $100 with over time.
It does look that the all important factor of cost could be the clincher in the choice between the two systems.
For larger batteries, the CRYOBattery will probably have a larger advantage.
Conclusion
I can see Highview Power and their CRYOBatteries putting up a good fight against lithium-ion batteries, especially with larger batteries, where they have a larger cost advantage.
In the UK, we will know they have won an advantage, if the two big battery-storage funds; Gore Street and Gresham House, start to install CRYOBatteries.
Britain Will Soon Have A Glut Of Cheap Power, And World-Leading Batteries To Store It
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on the Telegraph.
This is the first four paragraphs.
Today’s electricity price shock is the last crisis of the old order. Britain will soon have far more power at times of peak production than it can absorb. The logistical headache will be abundance.
Wind and solar provided almost 60pc of the UK’s power for substantial stretches last weekend, briefly peaking at 66pc. This is not to make a propaganda point about green energy, although this home-made power is self-evidently displacing liquefied natural gas (LNG) imported right now at nosebleed prices.
It is a point about the mathematical implications of the UK’s gargantuan push for renewables. Offshore wind capacity is going to increase from 11 to 50 gigawatts (GW) by 2030 under the Government’s latest fast-track plans.
RenewableUK says this country currently has a total of 86GW in the project pipeline. This the most ambitious rollout of offshore wind in the world, ahead of China at 78GW, and the US at 48GW.
The article goes on to give a comprehensive account of where we are with renewables, where we are going and how we will handle things, when the wind doesn’t blow.
Dogger Bank
The article says this about the Dogger Bank wind farm, which is being developed by SSE.
The giant hi-tech turbines to be erected on the Dogger Bank, where wind conditions are superb, bear no resemblance to the low-tech, low-yield dwarves of yesteryear. The “capacity factor” is approaching 60pc, which entirely changes the energy equation.
A capacity factor of 60 % seems a bit high to me and is what can be expected with the latest floating turbines. But these are fixed to the sea floor.
The Wikipedia entry for the Dogger Bank wind farm, says this about the building of the the first two sections of the massive wind farm.
On 21 September 2020, it was announced that Dogger Bank A and B will use 190 GE Haliade-X 13 MW offshore wind turbines over both sites, meaning that 95 turbines will be used on each site.[19] The availability of upgraded Haliade-X turbines rated at 13 MW rather than 12 MW means that each site will be capable of generating up to 1.235 GW, for a total of 2.47 GW. Turbines will be pre-assembled at Able Seaton Port in Hartlepool, an activity that will lead to the creation of 120 skilled jobs at the port during construction. Turbine installation is expected to commence in 2023 at Dogger Bank A.[20] Power Purchase Agreements (PPA) for 15 years were signed in November 2020. Offshore cable laying started in April 2022. Installation of the turbine foundations was started in July 2022.
This GE data sheet about the Haliade-X offshore wind turbine, says this about capacity factor.
it also features a 60-64% capacity factor above industry standard. Capacity factor compares how much energy was generated against the maximum that could have been produced at continuous full power operation during a specific period of time.
A 60-64% capacity factor is exceptional.
Current plans for Dogger Bank indicate that 3.6 GW will be installed and operational by 2024/25.
Could that mean that Dogger Bank will be able to deliver 2.16 GW almost continuously, on GE’s figures? Sizewell B is only 1.25 GW.
Sofia Wind Farm
There was going to be a fourth section to Dogger Bank, but this is now the separate Sofia wind farm.
- It is being developed by RWE.
- The first phase of three has a capacity of 1.4 MW. Does that mean Sofia will eventually be a 4.2 GW wind farm?
- RWE seem to be putting in a very large offshore substation. Could this support a lot more turbines?
- The wind farm seems to be using high-specification SiemensGamesa 14MW SG 14-222 DD wind turbines, which have a Power Boost facility to deliver up to 15 MW.
- I can’t find anything about capacity factor.
Wikipedia gives a delivery date of 2023 for the first phase of Sofia.
Storing Electricity
The article says this about storing electricity.
Much of the power will have to be stored for days or weeks at a time. Lithium batteries cannot do the job: their sweet spot is two hours, and they are expensive. You need “long duration” storage at a cost that must ultimately fall below $100 (£82) per megawatt hour (MWh), the global benchmark of commercial viability.
That is now in sight, and one of the world leaders is a British start-up. Highview Power has refined a beautifully simple technology using liquid air stored in insulated steel towers at low pressure.
I have had Highview Power on my radar for some time.
Highview Power
What is there not to like about Highview Power?
- The original idea was developed in a shed in Bishop’s Stortford, by a lone inventor.
- Sumitomo are one of their backers.
- They are also backed by English Universities and the UK Government.
- They have run a successful pilot plant in Bury.
- They are now building their first full-size 50 MW/250 MWh commercial plant at Carrington near Manchester.
- Much of the equipment they use to build their batteries is standard equipment from world-class companies like MAN.
- There are no exotic and expensive materials used.
The writer of the article has obviously had a long chat with Rupert Pearce, who is Highview’s chief executive and ex-head of the satellite company Inmarsat.
Pearce happily discloses this monster.
Highview is well beyond the pilot phase and is developing its first large UK plant in Humberside, today Britain’s top hub for North Sea wind. It will offer 2.5GW for over 12 hours, or 0.5GW for over 60 hours, and so forth, and should be up and running by late 2024.
Note.
- The world’s largest battery is at Ouarzazate Solar Power Station in Morocco and it is 3 GWh.
- Highview’s Humberside battery is megahuge at 30 GWh.
- The world’s largest pumped storage power station is Fengning Pumped Storage Power Station in China and it is 40 GWh.
- My experience of doing the calculations for large reaction vessels and other structures, tells me, that Highview should be able to construct huge systems.
I suspect that it will be easier and more affordable to build the Humberside battery.
This is another pair of paragraphs.
Mr Pearce said Highview’s levelised cost of energy (LCOE) would start at $140-$150, below lithium, and then slide on a “glide path” to $100 with over time. The company has parallel projects in Spain and Australia but Britain is the showroom.
“The UK is a fantastic place to do this. It has one of the most innovative grids in the world and an open, fair, liquid, market mechanism with absolute visibility,” he said.
It looks to me, that Rupert Pearce has taken Highview Power to a different level, in his short tenure at the company.
The world will soon be very familiar with the name of Highview Power.
The Anonymous Widower 