UK’s Pivot Power Sees First Battery On Line By 2021
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Argus Media.
The article is a review of what is happening in the UK and this is the introductory paragraph.
UK firm Pivot Power is now targeting a 2021 start for its first two 50MW lithium-ion battery storage projects, while a 50MW liquid air energy storage project and another 50MW battery recently announced they were targeting completion by 2022.
The article gives several pieces of information about Pivot Power.
- Their two batteries are at Kemsley and Cowley.
- The two batteries appear to be running late.
- The company has a portfolio of forty projects with s total size of 2 GW.
- The Cowley battery will be co-located with a 2MW/5MWh Vanadium flow battery operated by storage firm redT.
- Pivot Power is owned by EdF.
Good to see redT involved, although they seemed to have merged with Avalon Battery to form Invinity Energy Systems. The new web site describes them as the world’s leading vanadian-flow battery company.
This page on the web site is the Press Release about the merger.
This paragraph from the Press Release, describes where vanadium flow batteries fit in the market.
Vanadium flow batteries are a form of heavy-duty, stationary energy storage, used primarily in high-utilisation applications such as being coupled with industrial scale solar generation for distributed, low-carbon energy projects. This sort of application requires daily, heavy use and is well suited to flow battery technology, which is expected to become a £3.5bn market by 2028.
I don’t know much about vanadium-flow technology, but this company could probably be added to a list of companies, who might make it.
Proposed Merger Will Make Zinc Battery Developer Eos Energy A Public Company
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on pv magazine.
This is the introductory paragraph.
EOS has executed a letter of intent for a merger with a SPAC — which would result in EOS becoming a publicly listed company. Investors seem fascinated by energy storage this year, the long-duration variety in particular.
The two companies are described like this.
EOS Energy Storage
EOS Energy Storage is a private zinc battery developer with the chance to go public via a merger with a special purpose acquisition company.
The company has a comprehensive web site.
Riley Principal Merger Corp II
B. Riley Principal Merger Corp II (BMRG), a special purpose acquisition company listed on the New York Stock Exchange, and Eos have executed a letter of intent for a merger which would result in Eos becoming a publicly listed company.
The article, then states that energy storage is the big thing with investors this year.
The article makes some interesting points and anybody thinking about investing in these technology stocks should read it.
Conclusion
With this activity around EOS, it could be they are a company to watch, but we’ve had share bubbles before.
Do We Need A UK Lithium-Ion Battery Factory?
My post, Gore Street Acquires 50MW Ferrymuir Battery Project, Eyes More In Scotland and the article on the Energyst with the same name, got me thinking.
It was this statement about Gore Street Energy Fund, that really started the thought.
The fund said the addition takes its portfolio built or under development to 293MW and added that is has options for a further 900MW.
Gore Street obviously have the money to build all of this energy storage.
- I have also looked at some of their projects on Google Maps and there are still plenty of sites on green- or brown-field land close to electricity sub-stations, where energy storage would be easy to connect.
- I suspect, they have some good engineers or electricity marketing specialists available.
- My worry, would be, with many countries going the energy storage route, is there enough capacity to build all the batteries we need.
We have three routes, we could easily take in this country.
- Convert suplus energy to hydrogen using electrolysers from ITM Power in Rotherham.
- Develop some BALDIES (Build Anywhere Long Duration Intermittent Energy Storage). British technology is available as the CRYObatteryfrom Highview Power, who signed to build their first full-size plant in the UK, last week.
- Build a lithium-ion battery factory. Preferably of the next generation, so that battery vehicles will go further on a charge.
It is my view, that we should do all three!
Will Gore Street, add a BALDIES to their portfolio of lithium-ion energy storage.
- In World First As Liquid-Air Energy Storage Makes Commercial Debut Near Manchester United Ground, I gave costs of £110/MWh for a CRYObattery and £231-470/MWh for lithium-ion batteries.
- Nothing exotic like lithium is needed to build a CRYObattery.
- Highview claim they can build bigger batteries than Elon Musk.
- They wouldn’t be the first substantial order.
I think the decision makers at Gore Street would sleep comfortably in their beds if they bought a CRYObattery for a location, that needed a larger battery.
Conclusion
As to the answer to my question, the answer is yes, as mobile application will need more and better batteries and on balance, we should have our own supply.
Gore Street Acquires 50MW Ferrymuir Battery Project, Eyes More In Scotland
The title of this post, is the same as this article on The Energyst.
This is a paragraph.
The Ferrymuir project in Fife, Scotland, has all connections and consents in place. Gore Street hopes to commission it in 2022.
It looks like it just needs the money to fit it out.
Judging by the numbers quoted for Gore Street in the article, it looks like a lot of fund managers and people with money, are putting money into energy storage.
Air-Powered Energy Storage Knocks Out Coal & Gas — Wait, What?
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on CleanTechnica.
After reading, this must read article, it could have had a title with Knocks Out Coal, Gas and Nuclear.
It makes a passionate article for Highview Power’s long term air-powered energy storage and other systems with a similar energy profile like Form Energy.
It also showed this good graphic from Highview Power, which shows how their system works.
This paragraph gives Highview’s view on what their CRYObatteries will do.
Grid operators are turning to long-duration energy storage to improve power generation economics, balance the grid, and increase reliability. At giga-scale, CRYOBatteries paired with renewables are equivalent in performance to – and could replace – thermal and nuclear baseload power in addition to supporting electricity transmission and distribution systems while providing additional security of supply,” enthuses Highview.
The author then chips in with the attitude of the US Department of Energy.
Don’t just take their word for it. The US Department of Energy is eyeballing long duration energy storage for the sparkling green grid of the future despite all the hot air blowing out of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
In an interesting twist, the Energy Department’s interest in long duration storage was initially connected to its interest in at least preserving, if not growing, the nation’s aging fleet of nuclear power plants.
Will renewables be able to see off nuclear in a country with plenty of sun and/or wind like the United States?
Conclusion
With a lot of help from their friends in the long term energy storage business, the answer must be yes!
World First As Liquid-Air Energy Storage Makes Commercial Debut Near Manchester United Ground
The title of this post is the same as that of this article on Recharge.
I can add some extra information starting with this picture from Highview Power, which shows a visualisation of the CRYObattery.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t show any objects, which can give an idea of the size of the plant.
Levelised Cost Of Energy
LCOE or Levelised Cost Of Energy will be a term, that will be increasing used, when electricity generation is discussed. This is Wikipedia’s definition of the term.
The levelized cost of energy (LCOE), or levelized cost of electricity, is a measure of the average net present cost of electricity generation for a generating plant over its lifetime. The LCOE is calculated as the ratio between all the discounted costs over the lifetime of an electricity generating plant divided by a discounted sum of the actual energy amounts delivered. The LCOE is used to compare different methods of electricity generation on a consistent basis. The LCOE “represents the average revenue per unit of electricity generated that would be required to recover the costs of building and operating a generating plant during an assumed financial life and duty cycle.” Inputs to LCOE are chosen by the estimator. They can include cost of capital, “fuel costs, fixed and variable operations and maintenance costs, financing costs, and an assumed utilization rate.
Make sure, when comparing different LCOE values for different methods of energy generation, that the same method was used to calculate LCOE.
Comparative Costs
The article quotes the following costs on an LCOS or Levelised Cost Of Storage basis, which enables comparison to be made according to the same rules.
- A 200 MW/2 GWh CRYObattery will cost £110/MWh
- Pumped storage/hydro will cost £123-150/MWh
- Lithium-ion will cost £231-470/MWh
I have converted some from dollars.
I do think that a 2 GWh CRYObattery could be very good value!
Income
The article says this about how the CRYObattery will earn us keep.
Income will come through grid balancing, ancillary services such as frequency response and voltage support, and arbitrage — buying electricity when wholesale prices are low and selling it when prices are high.
I suspect that if a company like Carlton Highview Power had several large batteries around the country, this would be an advantage to the company.
Will BALDIES Save The World?
I just had to use this new acronym, I’ve just found on the Internet.
BALDIES are Build-Anywhere-Long-Duration-Intermittent-Energy-Storage.
Climate Emission Killer: Construction Begins On World’s Biggest Liquid Air Battery
The title of this post, is the same at that of this article in the Guardian.
This is the introductory paragraph.
Construction is beginning on the world’s largest liquid air battery, which will store renewable electricity and reduce carbon emissions from fossil-fuel power plants.
These are a few points from the Guardian and other articles on other web sites, including Wikipedia.
- The size of the battery is 250 MWh.
- It can delivery up to 50 MW of power. which translates to five hours at full power, if the battery is full.
- If it was already working, it would be the ninth biggest battery of all types, except for pumped storage, in the world.
- It will be built at Trafford Energy Park near to Carrington power station.
- It will be double the size of the largest chemical battery, which was built by Tesla in South Australia.
- It is being built by a company call Carlton Highview Storage, which is a joint venture between Carlton Power and Highview Power.
- It should start commercial operation in 2022.
- The installation of the battery is an £85million project.
- The Government have chipped in with a £10million grant.
Some reports say, this could be one of four of Highview Power’s 250 MWh CRYObatteries to be developed by the joint venture.
I will add some observations of my own.
Carrington Power Station
This Google Map shows the site of Carrington Power station.
Note.
- Flixton station is in the North-East corner of the map.
- Irlam station is on the Western edge of the map.
- South of the railway between the two stations, there is a large industrial site, that sits in a bend in the River Mersey.
This second Google Map shows an enlargement of the site.
Note.
- Carrington power station in the middle of the site.
- Large amounts of brownfield land.
- The Manchester Ship Canal passing to the West of the site.
Wikipedia says this about the design of Carrington power station.
The station is a Combined-Cycle Power Plant (CCPP), using natural gas to generate 884MW of electricity. The CCPP uses both a gas and a steam turbine together, to produce up to 50 percent more electricity from the same fuel than a traditional simple-cycle plant. The waste heat from the gas turbine is routed to the nearby steam turbine, which generates additional power. Carrington consists of two CCPP KA26-1 units. At operating design conditions, each CCPP unit generates 442.3 MW net output. The station generates enough power to meet the electricity needs of one million homes in the UK and began commercial operation on 18 September 2016.
Wikipedia also says the following.
- The plant has an efficiency of 58%. Is that good for this type of gas-fired Combined Cycle Gas Turbine power station? 64% seems to be about the best but Carrington is better than the about 50% possible with a conventional gas turbine plant.
- Much of the heavy equipment for the power station was brought by barge along the Manchester Ship Canal.
- The station is also a combined heat and power plant, capable of providing nearby businesses with steam, if they require a supply. This could be useful to a Highview Power CRYObattery, as a low-grade heat-source is needed to recovery the stored energy by warming the liquid air.
Given the following.
- There is space available near to the power station.
- A 250 MWh CRYObattery would probably fit in a size smaller than two football pitches.
- Carlton have permission to build another CCGT at the site.
- Carrington has a very good electrical connection to the grid, as nearly all power stations do.
- Heavy components can be brought in by barge on the canal.
, it would appear that the area would be a good place to site the first gr-scale CRYObattery.
Conclusion
I think siting the first grid-scale CRYObattery close to Carrington power station at the Trafford Energy Park, fits together well and I could see more CRYObatteries being installed in the following types of location.
- At existing power stations.
- On the sites of demolished power stations, that still have good grid connections.
- Where interconnectors and power from offshore wind connects to the grid.
I wouldn’t be surprised to see Drax Group install a system at one of their sites, as a CRYObattery could help cut their carbon-emissions.
Developer 8minute Says More Than 24GWh Of Batteries Included In Its US Solar-Plus-Storage Pipeline
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Energy Storage News.
What caught my eye was the 24 GWh!
When you consider that the biggest battery in the UK is Electric Mountain, which has a capacity of 9 GWh, 24 GWh of batteries is a large number!
It will need a lot of solar panels to keep that amount of batteries brim-full.
This is a sentence from the article.
The company’s projects include the Eland Solar & Storage Center, which will comprise 400MWac of PV and 300MW / 1,200MWh of battery energy storage, currently under construction in California’s Mojave Desert.
Those are big numbers against the UK’s largest solar park at Shotwick in Wales, which is just 72.2 MW.
NEC Pulls The Plug On Storage Integration Business
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on GreenTechMedia.
It doesn’t appear that building grid-scale lithium-ion battery storage is a licence to print money!
And NEC bought the business from a bankrupt company!
The Anonymous Widower 