Prof Simon Hogg of Durham University Joins the Storelectric Team
Storelectric and the University of Durham have signed an agreement in which the university, led by Professor Simon Hogg, Ørsted Professor in Renewable Energy, Department of Engineering. He is also on the Advisory Board in the Durham Energy Institute. This reinforces our industry-leading technologies, and provides access to many of the university’s facilities.
New Website
Storelectric has launched a new, streamlined and simplified website: please look at it and see what you think. This is to go with our significant developments in the last couple of years, including developments on locations (see next story), further validations and development of our partnerships, and seven figures of funding from investors – a real vote of confidence in us and our future! We feel that we’re on the cusp of a breakthrough (or a few of them), and are developing our company and presence accordingly.
Storelectric Joins NEPIC
Storelectric’s technologies mesh so well with the power requirements, hydrogen, fuel/chemical synthesis and other industrial processes of the chemicals industry that we have joined NEPIC, the North East of England Process Industry Cluster. This also gives us access to the Tees Valley Hydrogen Hub, in which we aim to be a major player.
Storelectric Featured in Storage Analysis
Benchmark Minerals surveyed the technologies able to provide the amount of storage needed by the world. Our CAES is presented as ideal for up to 12 hours’ storage; hydrogen is presented as ideal for longer durations.
Focus on the Hydrogen Economy
Sky News has looked at the hydrogen economy, suggesting that now is its time to play a major role (with electricity) in the energy transition. Yes, green hydrogen and renewables are the future, provided they’re at the right scale. And Storelectric provides the key enablers for both – at the right scale.
90%+ of the energy transition is moving to renewable electricity, hydrogen and products of these. Both need storage at massive scale and suitable durations. The various technologies work much more efficiently and cost-effectively when integrated in the right ways. By enabling all these at grid scale, and with world-leading technologies and capabilities, Storelectric enables the energy transition to be affordable, reliable and resilient.
Please see last month’s blog for what we offer on hydrogen, its products and integrated solutions; this month’s (see below) looks more at Storelectric’s CAES offerings, which are entirely complementary and synergistic.
Decarbonising Mining
There are many initiatives to decarbonise mining, which accounts for 7-8% of global emissions directly and 25% indirectly. It is notable that many mining operations are ideally situated for powering by renewables, if only their energy could be stored at suitable scale and duration… as we do. And we can support other aspects such as the creation of hydrogen and other fuels and refining inputs, as outlined in last month’s blog. Storelectric’s CAES also removes intermittency for mining and refining operations just as much as for hydrogen.
Storelectric on Sky digital 181
Storelectric will be featured in a programme by Executive TV on Sky Digital Channel 181 on Sunday 18th December at 10.30 a.m. A 33-second trailer is here.
Expensive and Incapable Batteries
Zenobe has announced 800MW, 1.6GWh batteries in Scotland at a cost of £750m, and congratulations to them. For a similar cost Storelectric’s Green CAES can deliver 800MW, 4GWh (2.5x the volume of storage, for the same cost) and as a by-product the plant could concurrently deliver energy, balancing, reactive power/load, restoration, voltage/frequency control etc. See the blog, below.
Highview Power Fund-Raise
It is good news for the ‘green’ marketplace that a company such as Highview are raising £400m, of which £250m is for a 30MW, 300MWh Liquid Air Energy Storage (LAES) plant. Their technology aspires to ~60% efficiency terminal-to-terminal = 55-57% grid-to-grid at >100MW, it will be interesting to see how they develop.
If we again compare our model, which potentially offers up to 63.5% efficient plant grid-to-grid at a cost of around £50m (for both plants) for 40MW, 200MWh, with most of the cost in the power, not the duration. This is 20% of the cost for a 67% higher power rating and considerably better efficiency. Our larger plants could achieve anywhere up to 68-70% efficient grid-to-grid.
Storelectric is also seeking investment into both the company (which will develop many plants, and owns the IP) and the individual projects that it’s developing (which will provide a stake in infrastructure-scale assets). With these funds we will be able to help make the energy transition affordable, reliable and resilient.
Revolving Doors: Update
In last month’s blog, we noted that the UK’s Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, was not going to COP27. We are delighted that he changed his mind on this. And then he went one better – a very big one, too, nailing his colours to the mast of “a global mission for new jobs and clean growth” and urging global leaders to “move further and faster” to avoid the worst impact of climate change by limiting global warming to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels. Indeed, he summarised it very succinctly: “There is no long-term prosperity without action on climate change.”
We commented approvingly: “Chris Skidmore is continuing his review of the economic opportunities of Net Zero.” We note that this review has been going for some time, and follows previous reviews, without having found any substantial such opportunities. Economists’ consensus is that the UK took a ~15% hit from Covid, which was recoverable and recovered, and a further ~7% hit from Brexit, which the government has not yet found a way to recover, and which explains why the UK’s is the only G7 economy still below pre-Covid levels. We hope that positive ways forward are found soon, and pursued cooperatively with all our international partners.
