Liquid air energy storage (LAES), so far only deployed at scale at two sites in England, will be available in a number of new territories after manufacturer Highview Power signed a deal claimed to be worth €1 billion (US$1.12 billion).

A key missing piece in the clean energy puzzle is the question of how to provide baseload power in an electricity system dominated by intermittent renewables. Javier Cavada of Highview Power examines cryogenic long-duration storage as a possible solution.

The UK’s energy storage sector took “a great step forward” after completing what is thought to be the world’s first grid-scale liquid air energy storage (LAES) plant at the Pilsworth landfill gas site in Bury, near Manchester, the two companies involved have said.

Siemens has continued to bolster its UK presence with a new partnership with Grid Battery Storage Limited (GBSL) which will see a 22MW portfolio of four projects built and an ‘energy storage as a service’ offering launched.

Highview Power Storage, a UK company which makes energy storage systems based on liquid air technology, has said that work is well underway on a 5MW demonstration project in the north-west of England.