DECC Awards $13.3M for Energy Storage R&D

A $13.3 million contract has been awarded to a partnership of Viridor Waste Management and Highview Power Storage as part of the UK Department of Energy and Climate Change’s innovation competition to support energy storage technology research and development.

Viridor and Highview will use the funding to develop a technology to store air in a liquid format, which can then be used to supply electricity at times of high demand. The technology will be connected to the National Grid, and will be used to test balancing supply and demand using stored energy.

The Viridor-Highview liquid air energy storage demonstration project was awarded funding under DECC’s Energy Storage Technology Demonstration Competition. The Competition was launched in October 2012 with a budget of up to $28 million.

In November 2013, DECC announced the following three winning demonstration projects:

1. Moixa Technology - awarded a contract of $2 million to install and demonstrate its battery storage unit in about 300 homes across the UK;
2. REDT UK - awarded a contract of $5 million to build and test its redox flow battery technology on the Isle of Gigha to store surplus wind energy for use in the local electricity network when required; and
3. EValu8 Transport Innovations - awarded a $4.6 million contract 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.