Energy Storage Thread split of from Fusion Thread

[1nvest]

£20Bn might be enough to build sufficient wind turbines and liquid air energy storage facilities to cover almost all of UK homes power needs. And push come to shove could see the 2030 time date being pulled down to perhaps 2026. And doesn't create a demand for minerals which may become increasingly scarce, other than the rising demand for the likes of electric vehicles.

In addition to the Manchester plant, another multiples larger plant build is underway in Yorkshire and with another 16 seemingly planned across the UK https://highviewpower.com/plants/

Highview Power’s second commercial renewable energy power station in the UK is a 200MW/2.5GWh facility in Yorkshire. This is the first of 18 sites for UK wide deployment strategically located to benefit from the existing transmission infrastructure.

[1nvest]

£20Bn might be enough to build sufficient wind turbines and liquid air energy storage facilities to cover almost all of UK homes power needs. And push come to shove could see the 2030 time date being pulled down to perhaps 2026. And doesn't create a demand for minerals which may become increasingly scarce, other than the rising demand for the likes of electric vehicles.

In addition to the Manchester plant, another multiples larger plant build is underway in Yorkshire and with another 16 seemingly planned across the UK https://highviewpower.com/plants/

Highview Power’s second commercial renewable energy power station in the UK is a 200MW/2.5GWh facility in Yorkshire. This is the first of 18 sites for UK wide deployment strategically located to benefit from the existing transmission infrastructure.

I believe there are more East side UK wind farms than windier and more productive West side, primarily due to National Grid injection/structure reasons. Whilst that grid could be extended to better accommodate feeding the national grid more from the West side, another benefit of liquid air based storage is its portability. From the earlier link ...

ability to capture, store and shift energy wherever it is needed. Our plants can be co-located with wind or solar – or they can operate as a standalone.

Or even on the more remote most northerly islands of the British Isles. If a wind farm is co-located with a liquid air storage site then that captured energy could even be transported via ship rather than having to run electric cabling to the locations. As might a liquid-air site on say Iceland facilitate transportation of geo-therm based energy via ship to the UK rather than through the existing/planned electric cabling between UK and Iceland. Maybe with the ships being electric driven - powered by wind/air

[odysseus2000]

For those interested in liquid air storage this is an interesting introduction (12 mins):

https://youtu.be/yb1Nuk3_t_4

If we consider that of order £200b would make for a good level of energy storage for the UK with 65 million population that is of order 200000/65 approx £3k per person for a system that is likely capable of running for 20 years. This seems a very affordable solution.

If we were to want to move from gas domestic heating to heat pumps there would need to be a big additional spend to insulate all the uk housing stock, but ensuring the lights stay on & we use the abundant free fuel renewables sensibly, spending on tech like fusion that has so far been a failure looks less reasonable.

Regards,

[odysseus2000]

An alternative to liquid air is liquid co2 which is lower cost due to not needing the refrigeration phase (14 mins):

https://youtu.be/tPHkCbeQNxI

Regards,

[BullDog]

An alternative to liquid air is liquid co2 which is lower cost due to not needing the refrigeration phase (14 mins):

https://youtu.be/tPHkCbeQNxI

Regards,

In a similar vein, compressed air energy storage -

http://storelectric.com/

Looks promising, but first plant is yet to be built.

[BullDog]

For those interested in liquid air storage this is an interesting introduction (12 mins):

https://youtu.be/yb1Nuk3_t_4

If we consider that of order £200b would make for a good level of energy storage for the UK with 65 million population that is of order 200000/65 approx £3k per person for a system that is likely capable of running for 20 years. This seems a very affordable solution.

If we were to want to move from gas domestic heating to heat pumps there would need to be a big additional spend to insulate all the uk housing stock, but ensuring the lights stay on & we use the abundant free fuel renewables sensibly, spending on tech like fusion that has so far been a failure looks less reasonable.

Regards,

It's very interesting technology. Nothing novel about it. It's basically the first half of an air separation plant. Decades old technology and very reliable.