(L-R): Ian Morrish, Viridor's Landfill Energy Director; Greg Barker, Minister of State for Climate Change; and Gareth Brett, CEO of Highview Power Storage.

The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) has today (13 February) awarded £8 million to waste management company Viridor and energy storage provider Highview Power Storage to build an energy storage facility in Canterbury.

The two British companies were awarded the funds from DECC’s £17-million Energy Storage Technology Demonstration Competition, which launched in October 2012.

With the funding, Viridor will work with Highview to build and operate a five-megawatt/15-megawatt hours energy storage demonstration project at Viridor’s landfill site in Canterbury, Kent. The facility will be connected to the National Grid, and will be used to test balancing supply and demand using stored energy.

Technology details

The project will utilise Highview’s Liquid Air Energy Storage (LAES) system to refrigerate exhaust air from Viridor’s landfill gas engines to -196°C, thus turning it to liquid, which can be stored in insulated vessels at low pressure for later use.

When needed (such as at times of high electricity demand), the liquid can then be pumped to high pressure and heated (in this case by utilising waste heat from Viridor’s landfill gas engines), causing rapid re-gasification and an increase in volume of 700 times, which is used to drive a turbine to create electricity.

According to Highview, the system – which is expected to come online ‘mid 2015’ – could provide enough electricity to power 5,000 homes.

The energy company added that the technology has a range of benefits, including:

• no geographical constraints;

• low capital costs;

• long lifetime (25 years plus);

• no scarce or toxic materials required;

• increased efficiency through using low-grade waste heat.

The £8 million plant will be Highview’s first outside of its pilot plant in Slough, which utilises heat from Scottish & Southern Energy’s biomass facility.

Awarding the funding today, Energy and Climate Change Minister Greg Barker, said: “Storing energy will become increasingly important in the move towards a low-carbon economy, and has the potential to save the energy system over £4 billion by 2050.

“Energy storage systems are potentially revolutionary technologies – just imagine how much the energy system will change if we’re able to manage supply and demand better by storing energy cost-effectively, not to mention the benefits for British research and manufacturing industries.”

The announcement coincides with the publication of a joint Strategic Framework by the Low Carbon Innovation Coordination Group, which aims to provide ‘enhanced investor certainty’.

Ensuring long-term energy security

Artist's impression of the Viridor/Highview facility

Viridor’s Landfill Energy Director, Ian Morrish said the company was ‘pleased’ to have secured funding for this ‘important project’.

He said: “With ever growing pressure on natural resources, it is essential that we develop innovative and sustainable methods to generate and store energy not only to cut down our carbon footprint but to ensure long-term energy security.

“Innovation has been at the heart of successful businesses in Britain, and it is great news that the government recognises and supports its development.”

Gareth Brett, CEO of Highview Power Storage, added: “By selecting to fund the demonstration of Highview’s Liquid Air Energy Storage system, DECC has given a British company a great opportunity to begin commercialising a home-grown, innovative technology that has the potential to make a major contribution in terms of helping balance electricity systems in the future.

“The collaboration with Viridor will enable Highview to showcase the technology at larger scale, harvesting waste heat from landfill gas engines and demonstrating our readiness for deployment elsewhere.”

Other demonstration projects that have previously been awarded funding from the same DECC competition include:

• Moixa Technology Ltd: awarded contract of £1.3 million, excluding VAT, to install and demonstrate its battery storage unit in about 300 homes across the UK;

• REDT UK Ltd: awarded contract of £3 million, excluding VAT, to build and test its vanadium redox flow battery technology on the Isle of Gigha to store surplus wind energy for use in the local electricity network when required); and

• EValu8 Transport Innovations Ltd: awarded £2.8 million contract, excluding VAT, on behalf of the EVEREST Consortium, to develop a new storage system, partly made out of recycled batteries from electric vehicles, which will store renewable energy generated at times of low demand for use at times of peak demand.

Read more about the DECC’s Low Carbon Innovation Programme or find out more about the Highview LAES.