February 24, 2022
StorTera is one of the UK energy storage innovators that have been awarded Phase 1 funding to develop a long duration energy storage demonstrator that will be built and installed in Phase 2 if successful. The Longer Duration Energy Storage Demonstration Programme funding was awarded by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. The competition forms part of the UK Government’s 10 point plan for a green industrial revolution and is divided into three categories; electricity, thermal and power-to-x.
Longer duration energy storage is defined as any technology that can output stored energy at full capacity for longer than four hours up to weeks and even months. It is seen as the solution to overcoming the intermittency of renewable energy by providing clean energy to the grid when the wind is blowing and the sun isn’t shining.
StorTera’s promising flow battery technology which stores and releases electricity, is comprised of a single highly energy dense liquid and requires no cobalt, manganese, vanadium, bipolar carbon plates or expensive membranes. They have developed a novel maintenance regime that maintains high efficiency throughout the 30-year lifetime and are aiming for levelized costs of less than £10/MWh by using existing battery manufacturing techniques.
As part of Phase 1, StorTera are completing a sustainable supply chain assessment to find their raw materials locally and incorporate by-products of other industries where possible. The two main ingredients are a solvent which is a byproduct of the wood processing industry and sulphur, which is a by-product of the oil and gas industry. This work will allow them to design and specify a highly efficient and long-lasting MW scale demonstrator that can output for up to 8 hours while creating a fully recyclable product that establishes a circular economy in the UK.
“Driving forward energy storage technologies will be vital in our transition towards cheap, clean and secure renewable energy. It will allow us to extract the full benefit from our home-grown renewable energy sources, drive down costs and end our reliance on volatile and expensive fossil fuels. Through this competition we are making sure the country’s most innovative scientists and thinkers have our backing to make this ambition a reality.”
Greg Hands, Energy & Climate Change Minister