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The Topic: Electricity storage ElEctricity storagE THE Topic 14 | 28th November - 4th December 2014 | UtILItY WeeK lend itself well to new pumped storage. I see a need for incentivisation – more done in policy. Investors need to believe there will be return on investment," he says. McMaster cites SSE's £800 million, 600MW project at Coire Glas in Scotland as an example of a project stalled by short- comings in regulation. SSE has said its investment decision awaits changes in the transmission charging regime for pumped storage and a "satisfactory and support- ive long-term public policy and regulatory framework". "There should be some sort of allowance – a strike price – to generate certainty for pumped storage," says McMaster. "We need government policy leadership." He looks to Spain, Portugal and France where he says the governments are looking at renewables and storage not separately but in combination. Pumped storage specialist the Quarry Battery Company (QBC) is looking to exploit a relatively new technology in small pumped storage – plants storing about 500MWh. It is building a 50MW plant in abandoned slate quarries in north Wales. Managing director David Holmes is a vocal critic of UK infrastructure policy and regulation for creating uncertainty, which deters investors. But Holmes' criticism of UK policy foibles is tempered slightly by a new hope: the capacity mechanism, introduced under EMR, could have a favourable impact on storage, he says. "The capacity mechanism was music lowering The cosT of elecTriciTy sTorage A collaborative project between the energy technologies Institute and engineering com- pany Isentropic is attempting to prove the feasi- bility of a new kind of storage technology, which it says could provide a significantly cheaper and more efficient energy storage options for projects of around 1.5mW, or 6mWh. the technology uses pumped heat, stored in gravel vessels to store energy. to release this potential, gas is expanded in the engine to produce electricity with a round trip efficiency of around 75 per cent. the demonstrator project has £15.7 million of funding and will be deployed at a primary substation owned by Western Power Distribu- tion in the midlands. the project is expected to complete in 2018. Isentropic, which developed the pumped heat electricity storage technology, claims it will provide the cheapest and most convenient way to store and recover electricity to date, and etI chief executive David clarke is optimistic about this project – "the economics are quite promis- ing", he says. that said, clarke adds that market conditions are not yet attractive enough for a commercial rollout, however successful the demonstration proves. "There is no financial mechanism for valuing it," he says. "Until we can get demand from a market viewpoint, stor- age will remain a blind spot." by Jane Gray Of the 2GW storage by 2020 aspiration, 500MW is expected to be at the consumer and community level where regulatory influence is less. According to consultancy Poyry: "Consumer scale projects in 1-2kWh range are gaining traction and cumulatively have potential, when aggregated, to dwarf other technologies." Technology Typical rated Nominal Cycle efficiency Energy Power capacity Typical life Technology Usual/anticipated capacity (MW) duration (%) cost ($/kWh) cost ($/kW) (years) maturity scale Pumped hydroelectric storage 100-5000 1-24+ hrs 70-87 5-100 600-2000 3 0-60 Mature & Large grid commercial Energy storage 50-300 1-24+ hrs 70-89 2-120 400-1150 20-40 Commercial Large grid Cryogen-based energy storage 10-200 1-12+ hrs 40-90+ 260-530 900-2000 20-40+ Early commercial Grid/EV/ commercial UPS Flywheel 0.4-20 1-15 mins 80-95 1000-14000 250-25000 15-20 Demo/ early Small grid/ commercial house/EV Hydrogen storage and fuel cell 0-50 Seconds-24+hrs 20-85 6-725 1500-10000+ 5-20 Demo Grid/house/EV/ commercial UPS Battery: flow 0.03-3 Seconds - 10h 65-85 150-1000 600-2500 5-30+ Research/ Grid/house/EV/ early demo commercial UPS Battery: lithium 1-100 0.15-1 hrs 75-90 600-3800 400-1600 5-15 Demo Grid/house/EV/ commercial UPS Battery: metal-air 0.01-50 Seconds-5 hrs ~75 10-340 100-1700 Research/ Grid/house/EV/ early demo commercial UPS Battery: sodium-sulphur 0.05-34 Seconds-8hrs 75-90 300-500 350-3000 5-15 Commercial Grid/house/EV/ commercial UPS Battery: nickel 0-40 Seconds-hrs 60-90 800-1500 400-2400 10-20 Early commercial Grid/house/EV/ commercial UPS Battery: lead-acid 0-40 Seconds-10hrs 63-90 200-400 50-600 5-20 Mature & Grid/house/EV/ commercial commercial UPS Superconducting magnetic 0.1-10 Millisecond-seconds 90-97+ 1000-10000 200-350 20-30 Early ccommercial Small grid/ energy storage commercial UPS Supercapacitor 0-10 Milliseconds-1 hr <75-98 300-20000 25-510 8-20+ Early demo Small grid/ house/EV Source: Pathways for Energy Storage in the UK, Centre for Low Carbon Futures a comparison of differenT elecTrical energy sTorage Technologies good Things come in small pacKages