The March Of The Batteries
One of my Google alerts picked up this story from the Solar Power Portal, which is entitled Gresham House To Acquire 480MW BESS, Completes Financing On 397MW Portfolio.
This is the sub-heading.
Gresham House Energy Storage Fund signed a Sale and Purchase agreement (SPA) for the conditional acquisition of a 480MW BESS project, while also completing funding on a 397MW portfolio that will begin construction.
I asked Google AI, “How Big Is Gresham Houuse’s Portfolio Of Batteries?” an received this answer.
Gresham House Energy Storage Fund (GRID) operates a portfolio exceeding 1GW of utility-scale battery capacity in the UK, with an active pipeline of future and recently financed projects.
Their operational capacity features:
Operational Capacity: Exceeds 1GW (approx. 1,072MW/1,701MWh) across dozens of sites.
Market Share: Owns roughly 17% to 20% of all utility-scale batteries in Great Britain.
Haven’t they done well!
When Will Highview Power Complete The Carrington Battery?
Highview Power is building a 50 MW/300 MWh liquid air battery at Carrington, near Manchester.
I asked Google AI,the title of this section and received this reply.
Highview Power’s Carrington liquid air energy storage facility in Greater Manchester is scheduled to be operational by late 2026.
The grid stabilization phase is set to begin early in the year, with full long-duration operations following shortly after.The £300 million project at the Trafford Low Carbon Energy Park is a pioneering commercial-scale “cryobattery” that liquefies and stores air to capture excess renewable energy.
Key details of the completed facility:
Capacity: 300 MWh of storage (delivering 50 MW for six hours)
Reach: Capable of supplying electricity to approximately 480,000 homes
Technology: Liquid Air Energy Storage (LAES)
When Will Highview Power Complete The Livingstone Battery?
Highview Power is building a300 MW/3.2 GWh liquid air battery at Livingstone near Glasgow.
I asked Google AI, the title of this section and received this reply.
Highview Power is not currently building a battery in Livingstone. They are developing a major \(2.5 \text{ GWh}\) liquid air energy storage (LAES) plant in Hunterston, Scotland, which is scheduled to come online by 2030.
According to the Highview Power web site, a 300 MW/3.2 GWh “cryobattery” is being built at the site.
How Much Offshore Wind Power Will Be Installed This Year?
In UK Offshore Wind In 2030 – Calculated May 2026, I said that 2635 MW would be commissioned this year.
Conclusion
We’re running hard, but will we keep ahead of the tsunami of offshore wind and solar panels we are installing.
In UK Offshore Wind In 2030 – Calculated May 2026, my latest calculations show that by 2036, we will have installed 61,337 MW of offshore wind alone.
How Many Of Their 300 MW/3.2 GWh Liquid Air Batteries Do Highview Power Think They Can Install?
I asked Google AI, the title of this section and received this reply.
Highview Power plans to install several of their 300 MW/3.2 GWh “Millennium Series” cryogenic plants. They are specifically developing two initial flagship sites in the UK, with the intention to scale up rapidly over the next decade to capture a significant share of national long-duration energy storage targets.
Highview Power is executing a multi-billion-pound programme to build out these multi-technology storage facilities, which combine liquid air energy storage and lithium-ion batteries.
The two primary 3.2 GWh projects advancing through the UK regulatory system include:
Hunterston, North Ayrshire (Scotland): Slated as the first of the Millennium Series, designed to provide up to 3.2 GWh of capacity (powering around 650,000 homes).It is advancing through the regulatory assessment and construction phases.
Killingholme, Lincolnshire (England): A second 3.2 GWh facility.
Both the Hunterston and Killingholme sites were deemed eligible for support under the UK government’s “cap and floor” super-battery scheme.
Two 300 MW/3.2 GWh “Millennium Series” cryogenic plants will do very nicely!
Engineering is the science of the possible, whereas politics is dreams of the impossible.
‘Europe’s Biggest Battery Farm’ Built On Coal Mine
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on the BBC.
This is the sub-heading.
Work is under way to create what has been described as Europe’s largest battery storage project at Coalburn in South Lanarkshire.
These three paragraphs add a bit more detail.
Developers say the two huge neighbouring battery farms – one at the site of a former opencast coal mine – will store enough electricity to power three million homes.
Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) are being built across the UK to help balance the electricity grid, which is becoming increasingly powered by renewables.
Almost 90% of the electricity generated in Scotland last year was from low carbon sources like wind, solar or nuclear, according to figures from the Scottish government.
A search of the Internet found this paragraph describing the size of the battery.
The CIP BESS portfolio (Coalburn 1, Coalburn 2, and Devilla) will have total power capacity of 1.5GW and will be able to store and supply the grid with a total of 3GWh of electricity, equivalent to the electricity demand of over 4.5 million households, across a 2-hour period.
Note.
- CIP is Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, who are a large developer of energy infrastructure.
- It appears there are three separate 500 MW/ 1 GWh batteries being developed together.
- The batteries can supply electricity for two hours.
This looks like a sensible project in an area, where there could be plenty of spare electricity.
Competition With Highview Power
Highview Power’s web site has a Projects section, where this is said.
Scotland And The North-East, UK
Highview Power’s next projects will be located in Scotland and the North East and each will be 200MW/2.5GWh capacity. These will be located on the national transmission network where the wind is being generated and therefore will enable these regions to unleash their untapped renewable energy potential and store excess wind power at scale.
I can see Highview Power’s 200MW/2.5GWh liquid air batteries and 500 MW/ 1 GWh Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) competing for the same projects.
However, it does appear at Trafford Energy Park, both types of battery appear to be being installed.
- Carlton Power Secures Planning Consent For World’s Largest Battery Energy Storage Scheme
- Centrica Invests In Renewable Energy Storage Capabilities To Boost UK’s Energy Security And Accelerate Transition To Net Zero
Perhaps the two together give the best response?
Carlton Power Secures Planning Consent For World’s Largest Battery Energy Storage Scheme
The title of this post, is the same as that of this news story from Carlton Power.
This is the sub-heading.
£750m 1GW Battery Project To Be Built At Carlton Power’s Trafford Low Carbon Energy Park In Greater Manchester
These three paragraphs outline the project.
Carlton Power, the UK independent energy infrastructure development company, has secured planning permission for the world’s largest battery energy storage scheme (BESS), a 1GW (1040MW / 2080MWh) project located at the Trafford Low Carbon Energy Park in Greater Manchester. The £750m BESS scheme will strengthen the security and resilience of the energy system in the North West of England, and support the energy transition and the growth of renewable power generation in the region.
Planning permission for the BESS was granted by Trafford Council, the local planning authority.
Subject to a final investment decision, construction of the battery storage scheme is expected to begin in the first quarter of next year (2024) with it entering commercial operation in the final quarter of 2025. Carlton Power is in advanced talks with companies to finance, build and operate the Trafford BESS.
I have a few thoughts.
It’s A Monster
This Wikipedia entry, lists the World’s Largest Grid Batteries.
- The current largest is Vistra Moss Landing battery in the United States, which has a capacity of 1600 MWh and an output of 400 MW.
- The Trafford BESS will have a capacity of 2080 MWh and an output of 1040 MW.
By both measures the Trafford BESS is larger.
Where Will It Get The Energy?
Consider.
- In Liverpool and Morecambe Bays there is over 5 GW of offshore wind farms either operational, under construction or planned.
- Carrington gas-fired power station has a capacity of 884 MW.
- The Western HVDC Link is a 2250 MW link between Scotland and Connah’s Quay in North Wales.
- I wrote about the proposed Mersey Barrage in Mersey Tidal Project And Where It Is Up To Now.
I can see enough renewable energy being generated to replace Carrington gas-fired power station.
Who Will Finance, Build And Operate The Trafford BESS?
There are two major Energy Storage Funds in the UK.
- Gore Street with 27 projects totalling 1.17 GW.
- Gresham House with 17 projects totalling 425 MW.
Note.
- There are other smaller funds.
- The figures given are cumulative outputs for the portfolios.
- Sourcing the large number of batteries might be a problem.
- As the maths of these batteries are now well-known, I would expect that finance shouldn’t be too much of a problem.
- Local companies like Liverpool Victoria or Peel Holdings could even take a position.
A large American contractor backed by US money could swallow the whole project.
That happened with North Sea oil and gas in the last century.
Is Highview Power’s CRYOBattery Still Planned?
Carlton Power’s news story says this about Highview Power’s plans.
In addition to Carlton Power’s two projects, Highview Power Storage Inc. is planning to build and operate the world’s first commercial liquid air storage system – a £250m 250MWh long duration, cryogenic energy storage system – on the Trafford Low Carbon Energy Park, which was until 1991 the site of the Carrington coal-fired power station. The Low Carbon Energy Park is located close to Manchester Ship Canal and the £750m Carrington flexible gas-fired power station which entered operation in 2016.
It seems that the CRYOBattery is still planned.
Conclusion
Manchester is getting a powerful zero-carbon hub.
Carlton Power, Stag Pool Knowledge For UK Energy Storage, Green H2
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Renewables Now.
This is the introductory paragraph.
British energy infrastructure developers Carlton Power and Stag Energy are merging their operations with plans to develop projects that will help improve energy storage, grid stability and green hydrogen production in the UK.
The article says this about Carlton Power.
Yorkshire-based Carlton has delivered more than 6 GW of thermal and renewables generation in the past 30 years. It is the lead developer of the Trafford Energy Park in Manchester, which foresees a 50-MW/250 -MWh liquid air energy storage plant to be built in partnership with Highview Power, a 200-MW hydrogen electrolyser and commercial hydrogen hub for use in transport and heating as well as a 250-MWe battery energy storage facility. Carlton also plans to expand its Langage Energy Park near Plymouth with the addition of energy storage and electrolyser facilities.
They certainly seem to have a history, that will be worth extending into the future, with energy storage and hydrogen production.
The article says this about Stag Energy.
Edinburgh-headquartered Stag Energy, for its part, has previously developed open-cycle gas-turbine (OCGT) plants in England and Wales and has a joint venture with Lundin to build the Gateway offshore underground gas storage facility in the Irish Sea using salt caverns. Stag Energy is also part of the National Grid’s Pathfinder process to uncover ways to improve electricity system stability.
This article on Hydrocarbons Technology is entitled Gateway Gas Storage Facility and starts with these two paragraphs.
The Gateway Gas Storage Company (Gateway) is developing an underground natural gas storage facility, Gateway Gas Storage Facility (GGSF), 25km offshore south-west Barrow-in-Furness, UK, in the East Irish Sea.
The GGSF plant has a strong locational advantage for developing offshore salt cavern gas storage facilities, according to the British Geological Survey.
In my time at ICI in Runcorn, I learned a lot about salt caverns and once had a memorable trip into their salt mine under Winsford, which was large enough to accommodate Salisbury cathedral. A couple of years later, I worked with a lady, who arranged for ICI’s historic documents to be stored in the dry air of the mine.
Natural Gas Storage In Salt Caverns
This section in Wikipedia describes how caverns in salt formations are used to store natural gas.
In the 1960s, ICI used to create boreholes into the vast amount of salt, that lay below the surface and then by pumping in hot water, they were able to bring up a brine, which they then electrolysed to obtain chlorine, hydrogen, sodium hydroxide and sodium metal.
When they had taken as much salt out of a borehole, as they dared, they would move on.
Provided the salt stayed dry, it didn’t cause any problems.
It sounds like the Gateway Gas Storage Facility will use new caverns carefully created under the Irish Sea.
This document from the Department of Energy and Climate Change is an environmental impact assessment of the project.
It has a full description of the project.
The proposed gas storage facility will be located southwest of Barrow-in-Furness, approximately 24 km. offshore from Fylde, North West England. It will comprise 20 gas storage caverns created in the sub-seabed salt strata. A single well will be drilled at each cavern location, and the salt will be removed using seawater pumped down the well. The dissolved salt, or brine, will then be discharged directly to the sea. The size and shape of the caverns will be controlled using an established technique known as Solution Mining Under Gas (SMUG). At each well location, a monopod tower facility will be installed, to house the solution mining equipment required during the construction phase, and the gas injection and extraction wellhead equipment that will be required for the storage operations. It is proposed that the monopod towers will be drilled into position, although there is a contingency for them to be piled into place if drilling is not feasible.
A short pipeline and methanol feeder pipe will connect each wellhead facility to an 8 km. ‘ring main’ linking all the caverns. The ‘ring main’ will consist of a single 36″ diameter gas pipeline with a ‘piggy-backed’ 4″ methanol feeder line. Two 36″ diameter carbon steel pipelines will connect the ‘ring main’ to the onshore gas compressor station at Barrow. A 4″ methanol feeder line will be ‘piggy-backed’ on one of these pipelines. Power for the offshore facilities will be provided via a single cable laid alongside the more southerly of the two pipelines, with individual connections to each monopod tower. The offshore sections of the pipeline and cable systems up to the point of connection with the ‘ring main’ will be approximately 19 km. in length. The pipeline and cable systems will be trenched, and the trenches allowed to backfill naturally. Where necessary this will be supported by imported backfill. The trenches for the two 36″ pipelines will be approximately 20 metres apart, and the trench for the power cable will be approximately 10 m from the more southerly of the two pipelines. The two pipelines will cross the Barrow Offshore Windfarm power cable and the ‘ring main’ will cross the Rivers Field export pipeline and the Isle of Man power cables. All crossings will be suitably protected.
Note.
- The multiple cavern structure would surely allow different gases to be stored. Natural Gas! Hydrogen? Methanol? Carbon Dioxide?
- On this page of the Stag Energy web site, they state that forty caverns could be created, with each having the capability of storing around 75 million cubic metres of working gas.
- Converting that amount of natural gas to gigawatt-hours (GWh) gives a figure of around 800 GWh per cavern.
- This page on the Statista web site, shows that we used 811446 GWh of gas in 2020, so we will need around a thousand of these caverns to store our gas needs for a year.
It sounds just like the sort of gas storage project we need for a harsh winter.
In Do BP And The Germans Have A Cunning Plan For European Energy Domination?, I talked about BP’s plans for wind farms in the Irish Sea and speculated that they would create hydrogen offshore for feeding into the UK gas network.
The Gateway Gas Storage Facility would be ideal for holding the hydrogen created by electrolysis offshore.
Conclusion
The deal does seem to be one between equals, who have an enormous amount of practical knowledge of the energy industry.
I also think, that it will see full development of the Gateway Gas Storage Facility.
The Anonymous Widower 