MAN Energy Partners With Highview Power On Liquid-Air Energy-Storage Project
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Renewable Energy Magazine.
This is the introductory paragraph.
Highview Power, a leader in long duration energy storage solutions, has selected MAN Energy Solutions to provide its LAES turbomachinery solution to Highview Power for its CRYOBattery™ facility, a 50 MW liquid-air, energy-storage facility – with a minimum of 250MWh – located in Carrington Village, Greater Manchester , U.K.
The article is almost a word-for-word copy of this press release from MAN Energy Solutions, which has a similar title to this post and the Renewable Energy Magazine article.
As an Electrical Engineer who has done a lot of work in Project Management, I find these two paragraphs significant.
Construction will proceed in two phases. Phase 1 will involve the installation of a ‘stability island’, to provide near-instantaneous energy grid stabilisation. This will be achieved using a generator and flywheel, among other components. Enabling short-term stabilisation will provide the basis for Phase 2 and the completion of the more complex liquid air energy storage system that includes various compressors, air expanders and cryogenic equipment.
Phase 2 will represent the integration of stability services with a full-scale long-duration energy storage system, and in doing so promote the full integration of renewable energy. The Carrington project will offer a blueprint for future projects and cement the partnership between MAN Energy Solutions and Highview Power.
I first became acquainted with the use of flywheels to stabilise energy, when I was working in Enfield Rolling Mills as a vacation job at sixteen.
The centerpiece of their factory was a rolling mill, which took heated copper wirebars about two metres long amd ten centimetres square and rolled them into thick copper wire just a few millimetres in diameter. The mill was driven by a powerful electric motor, to which it was connected with a 97 tonne flywheel perhaps four metres in diameter in between. The flywheel spun at probably 3000 revolutions per minute.
The wirebar used to meander through the rolling mill several times and at each turn, the head would be caught by a man with a pair of tongs and turned back through the mill.
Each time the wire-bar went through a new pair of rolls the energy needed increased, as there was more rolling to do. So this extra energy was taken from the flywheel!
The rolling mill incidentally had been built by Krupp before the First World War. It still had the Krupp trademark of three interlocked railway tyres all over it. It had ended up in Enfield as reparations after the First World War. Enfield Rolling Mills added a fourth ring to create their own trademark.
It would appear that the kinetic energy of that flywheel could be as high as 1.6 MWh. Flywheels also react very fast.
Flywheel energy storage would appear to be a feasible intermediate energy store for this type of application.
I always remember Shimatovitch, who was the Chief Engineer of the company had jokingly once said that if the flywheel came off its bearings, it would have ended up a couple of miles away and would have demolished all the houses in its path. But he was a man with a dark sense of humour, who had spent most of the Second World War in a Nazi concentration camp.
Could it be that Phase 1 is the installation of a similar system to that I saw working in the 1960s, but upgraded with modern electronics, which exchanges power with the grid to create the stability island referred to in the press release.
In Phase 2 electricity can be passed to and from the CRYOBattery.
Looking at the MAN Energy Solutions web site, I suspect that they don’t care what sort of energy store they connect to the grid.
They would appear to be an excellent choice of engineering partner for Highview Power.
I also wonder how many other applications and customers, they will bring into the partnership.
Conclusion
This looks like a very sensible and low-risk strategy to connect the CRYOBattery to the grid.
Gravitricity Battery Generates First Power At Edinburgh Site
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on the BBC.
This is the first paragraph.
A project to create electricity from gravity has generated its first power at a demonstrator site in Edinburgh.
This is only a demo to prove the technology, but all great oaks start as acorns.
I have great hopes for Gravitricity and I should declare an interest, as I bought a few shares in a crowdfunding.
Australian Coal Mine To Transform Into Pumped Hydro Facility
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on PV Magazine.
This is the introductory paragraph.
Australian utility AGL is transforming its operations in a number of ways, from restructuring the company itself, to building energy storage facilities for flexible distribution of renewable energy into the future. The company is also planning to build a pumped-hydro facility at a disused open-cut coal mining site in eastern Australia.
It is an interesting proposition to say the least to reuse an opencast coal mine for something useful.
It would appear to be able to supple 250 MW for eight hours, which would make it a 2 GWh facility.
But then Australia is a country, that needs a lot of energy storage as they transform their economy to zero carbon.
Massless Energy Storage: The Next Step In Battery Technology
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on AZOCleanTech.
This is the introductory paragraph.
In this environmentally conscious world, fossil fuels are being shunned in favor of renewables for electricity generation and transportation. Due to their periodic nature, excess energy generated by renewables is frequently stored in batteries. However, these often add extra weight to the cars and consumer electronics they power.
To solve the problem, researchers in Sweden have developed a structural battery.
Sounds like a good idea to me!
Tesla And PG&E Are Working On A Massive ‘Up To 1.1 GWh’ Powerpack Battery System
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on electrek.
This is the first two paragraphs.
For the past few months, Tesla and CEO Elon Musk have been teasing a giant battery project that would dwarf even the company’s 129 MWh Powerpack project in Australia.
Today, we learn that Tesla is working with PG&E on a massive battery system with a capacity of “up to 1.1 GWh” in California.
It certainly, is a big lithium-ion battery.
- It will be able to provide 182.5 MW for four hours.
- It looks like it could be the largest lithium-ion battery in the world.
It is worth comparing with the Castaic Power Plant, which is also in California.
- This is a pumped storage plant.
- It can produce 1566 MW and has a capacity of 12470 MWh.
This Google Map shows the plant.
Note.
- The power plant is also part of the California State Water Project, which transfer water from North to South.
- The low-lake is Elderberry Forebay to the East.
- The high-lake is Pyramid Lake to the North.
It is a complicated system that includes the Angeles Tunnel, which takes water between Pyramid Lake and the Castaic power plant.
It cost a lot more than the 1.1 GWh battery, but it can generate a lot more power.
Highview Power Introduces Revolutionary Cryogenic Energy Storage Technology To The African Market
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on the African Review.
This is the first paragraph.
Javier Cavada, CEO and President of Highview Power spoke to African Review about the company’s cryogenic (air liquefaction) battery storage solutions and why they are a perfect fit for the continent
It appears to me, that the story, which started in a garage in Bishops Stortford, is going to have a happy ending for the world.
The article is a must read and I particularly liked this paragraph.
Cavada also noted how cryogenic technology complemented this transition. He added, “The main energy companies call our technology ‘pumped hydro in a box’ and that is how we have been making it. You can deploy over 1GWh without geographical constraints. There is no combustion, no emissions and no rare materials needed. All it comprises is some piping work, compressors and a generator, so it is pretty simple. Our mission is to enable a world that is grid powered by solar and wind, not fossil fuels, and this technology will help us achieve this.”
This is the brightest shade of green!
Ex-Steelworks To Make Wind Farm Parts In Plan For 6,000 Green Jobs
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on The Times.
This is the introductory paragraph.
The government will invest almost £100 million creating new wind turbine ports in northeast England, with a big renewables company announcing plans to make crucial parts in Teesside.
The two ports will be on Teesside and North Lincolnshire.
The next generation of wind turbines in the North Sea will be very different.
Larger Turbines
They will be larger and the blades will be bigger, so building them close to, where they will be installed is a sensible idea.
We are also very good at aerodynamics in the UK. This is the reason Airbus designs and builds wings in the UK.
Floating Turbines
The next generation of wind farms will be floating, as for some reason, they have a higher capacity factor.
I am personally pleased about this, as it appears they are based on a patented but failed design of floating oil production platform from the 1970s, where I performed the calculations on how to install them.
Some of these floating wind turbines can also be floated into port for major services and upgrades, which probably means we need local manufacturing of as many parts as possible.
Hydrogen Rather Than Electrical Connection
They will also create hydrogen, rather than electricity, by using a combination of wind turbine and hydrogen electrolyser.
As distances between shore and wind farm get longer, it is cheaper to use a gas pipe, rather than a DC electricity link.
Hydrogen can also be stored in worked out gas fields and also brought ashore in redundant pipelines.
The hydrogen electrolysers will probably be built in the world’s largest electrolyser factory in Rotherham, owned by ITM Power; a UK company.
Conclusion
As we are going to build almost 70 GW of offshore wind in the next few years, we’re going to need a turbines and I believe increasingly, they will be built in the UK.
So these two wind ports at Teesside and in Lincolnshire are a good idea.
H2 Green Steel Plans 800 MW Hydrogen Plant In Sweden
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on montel.
The title says it all.
In Can The UK Have A Capacity To Create Five GW Of Green Hydrogen?, I said the following.
Ryze Hydrogen are building the Herne Bay electrolyser.
- It will consume 23 MW of solar and wind power.
- It will produce ten tonnes of hydrogen per day.
The electrolyser will consume 552 MWh to produce ten tonnes of hydrogen, so creating one tonne of hydrogen needs 55.2 MWh of electricity.
This would mean that H2 Green Steel’s electrolyser could be producing around one hundred and forty thousand tonnes of hydrogen per year or 380 tonnes per day.
What About Scunthorpe?
I very much believe that Scunthorpe in Lincolnshire, would be the ideal place for hydrogen steelmaking in the UK as I outlined in Green Hydrogen To Power First Zero Carbon Steel Plant.
So could 800 MW of electricity be available to produce the hydrogen in the area.
Currently, the world’s largest offshore wind farm is Hornsea One with a capacity of 1218 MW, which feeds into the National Grid at Killingholme.
This Google Map shows the distance between Scunthorpe and Killingholme.
Note.
- Scunthorpe is in the South-West corner of the map.
- Killingholme is in the North-East corner of the map.
The distance is about twenty miles.
When fully developed, the Hornsea Wind Farm is planned to have a capacity of 6 GW or 6000 MW, so there should be enough renewable energy.
Could The Hydrogen Be Created Offshore?
In ITM Power and Ørsted: Wind Turbine Electrolyser Integration, I wrote about combining wind turbines and electrolysers to create an offshore wind turbine, that generates hydrogen, rather than electricity.
This approach may be ideal for the later phases of the Hornsea Wind Farm.
- Redundant gas pipes can be used to bring the hydrogen ashore.
- Worked-out offshore gas fields can be used to store hydrogen.
- Worked-out gas fields in the area, are already being used to store natural gas from Norway.
- The hydrogen can be fed directly into the HumberZero hydrogen network.
But the main reason, is that some serious commentators feel it is more affordable approach in terms of capital and maintenance costs.
It is also easy to convert hydrogen back to zero-carbon electricity, if you have a handy gas-fired power station. There could be as many of three of these at Keadby.
Conclusion
It’s all coming together on Humberside.
Anything the Swedes can do, we can do better!
Malta Inc Energy Storage Explained
Malta Inc first came to my notice in 2018 and I wrote Gates Among Billionaires Backing Alphabet Energy Spinoff.
But I couldn’t find much information at the time, but they now have a web site that gives a good explanation.
This page on the web site is entitled Our Solution.
This infographic from the web page, lays out the key features.
This sentence outlines the method of operation.
The Malta energy storage system takes electricity, converts and stores that electricity as heat, and then converts it back to electricity to be redistributed on the electric grid. In charge mode, the system operates as a heat pump, storing electricity as heat in molten salt. In discharge mode, the system operates as a heat engine, using the stored heat to produce electricity.
The operation is explained in five stages.
- Collects – Energy is gathered from wind, solar, or fossil generators on the grid as electrical energy and sent to Malta’s energy storage system.
- Converts – The electricity drives a heat pump, which converts electrical energy into thermal energy by creating a temperature difference.
- Stores – The heat is then stored in molten salt, while the cold is stored in a chilled liquid.
- Reconverts – The temperature difference is converted back to electrical energy with a heat engine.
- Distributes – Electricity is sent back to the grid when it is needed.
Note.
- The operation of the system is based on well-understood thermodynamic principles.
- Entergy is stored as both heat and cold.
- It provides several hours of energy storage.
- Systems are built using standard components, that are readily available.
In some ways the Malta Inc PHES is based on similar principles to Highview Power’s CRYOBattery and Siemens Gamesa’s ETES.
Conclusion
This is a company to watch, as they seem to have got the technology right.
Highview Power Begins 2021 With 4 GWh Of CRYOBattery Storage In Global Pipeline
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Solar Builder.
Read the article to find out how Highview Power are progressing with partners, offices and projects all over the world.
Not bad for an idea, that was invented in a garage in Bishops Stortford.
The article points to this video produced by the BBC.
If there’s one new venture, I wish I’d have a share of, it is this one.
- One of the projects, I worked on at ICI was optimising the size of a new plant to make plastic granules. I learned a great deal about how process plants can be scaled and their mathematics and economics.
- I believe that Highview Power’s CRYOBaterries fit with everything I know and are just world-class process engineering arranged in a unique way, which means they can be built in any country, where modern process plant technology is available and can be run and serviced by skilled engineers and technologists.
- Their partnership with the likes of Sumitomo Heavy Industries means, Highview Power, probably has access to the best technology, for some of the components needed.
After reading the article in Solar Builder, I now feel that Highview Power are on their way!
One of the first places, I shall visit after lockdown ends is Carrington near Manchester, to take pictures of the site of Highview Power’s 50 MW/250 MWh system, that is being built at Carrington.
The Anonymous Widower 