Highview Power, in partnership with Carlton Power, is beginning the execution process on a 50 MW liquid air energy storage facility, with a minimum of 250MWh, in Greater Manchester, United Kingdom.

The CRYOBattery will be one of Europe’s largest energy storage systems.

“Our facility will deliver much needed clean, reliable and cost-efficient long duration energy storage to the National Grid. The CRYOBattery will help the UK to integrate renewable energy and stabilize the regional electrical grid to ensure future energy security during blackouts and other disruptions.”

Javier Cavada, Highview Power CEO and president.

In June, Highview Power was awarded a £10 million grant from the UK Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) to build the facility at Trafford Energy Park, in Carrington Village, just 8 miles outside of Manchester. A visitor center will be located adjacent to the plant and will be open in the first quarter of 2021.

Highview Power will operate the facility in partnership with Carlton Power, a UK independent power station developer.

The CRYOBattery will enter commercial operation in 2023. The facility will use existing substation and transmission infrastructure, with its income derived from several markets, including arbitrage (buying electricity when prices are low and selling it when prices are high), grid balancing, the capacity market, and ancillary services such as frequency response and voltage support.

The Trafford Power site at Manchester was developed by Carlton Power to be the first project consented in Europe as being fully Carbon Capture Ready. Its proximity to its designated carbon storage field make the site one of the most economically viable sites in the UK for conversion to carbon capture and storage.

Highview Power’s proprietary cryogenic energy storage technology utilizes air liquefaction, in which ambient air is cooled and turned to liquid at -196 °C (-320 ˚F). The liquid air is stored at low pressure and later heated and expanded to drive a turbine and generate power. It is the only long duration energy storage solution available today that is locatable and can offer multiple gigawatt-hours (weeks) of storage.

The CRYOBattery has a small footprint, and is scalable with no size limitations or geographic constraints, allowing for the deployment of massive amounts of renewables.