Britain is one of several countries to score a perfect ten for its policy and technology environment for conventional pumped water storage (PHS) in a report published by Energy Systems Catapult.
The report, Mission Innovation – Long-term energy storageanalyzes the viability of deploying long-term energy storage systems (LDES) in a number of countries and for a number of technologies, assigning countries scores out of ten to assess the current political and economic environment’s support for new LDES deployments.
In general terms, the report concludes that countries with a number of LDES deployments are more attractive destinations, as these older projects demonstrate the business case for new deployment in the country, and that countries with supportive policy frameworks for LDES are among the most attractive.
Britain scores well on both measures, with the report pointing to the Net Zero Innovation Portfolio, a source of funding for low-carbon technologies and systems, as a particularly supportive programme. The initiative is a £1 billion investment that has already supported investment in the US AI in the renewable energy sector And space-based solar energyAnd awarded £30 million in 2023 for LDES projects in particular.
Supporting policies that encourage the implementation of LDES
Several other countries received full marks for their policy support for PHS, including Australia, Germany and the US. Germany’s policy landscape is very similar to that of Britain, with both countries offering network tariff waivers, carbon pricing schemes and revenue stacking opportunities for LDES projects, encouraging new investment in the sector.
However, the Australian market is more varied, with a number of financial support mechanisms for new storage projects. These include seed funding for large-scale storage projects delivered through the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) and the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA), and loans available for the installation of residential solar and energy storage systems, which is less relevant to PHS in particular but demonstrates the widespread government support for energy storage in Australia’s energy sectors.
The report also notes that Australia’s National Electricity Market, which operates in the east and south-east of the country, has set a “resource adequacy target” to maintain a reliable supply of electricity from clean energy sources. Although the UK National Energy System Operator (NESO) has published “some resource adequacy studies”, according to the report, these are less legally binding and therefore more influential than a legal target.
Further investment in supportive policies, especially from the financial side, could help strengthen the UK’s $69 million investment already made in the Longer Duration Energy Storage Demonstration (LODES) programme, which was notably identified as supportive policies by the Energy Systems Catapult report. The government has set a target of 20 GW of LDES deployments, which would be a significant increase from the 2.8 GW of capacity currently in use, all of which is in the PHS sector.
Strengths and opportunities for other technologies
In addition to its work in the PHS sector, Britain is also a leader in other LDES technologies, particularly high-density PHS. Britain was awarded an eight for its work in this area, with no other country scoring higher, and the average of all countries scoring just five. Australia, Germany and the US, which scored the same as Britain in PHS attractiveness, scored seven, four and four respectively for high-density PHS.
Some of this comes from the UK’s investment in the technology; last year, RheEnergise completed work at the high-density Cornwood R&D PHS in Devona combined research facility and demonstration plant that received over £140,000 in government funding through the LODES programme.
Although UK scores were generally high for the sixteen technologies profiled (with an average score of 6.6 across all technologies), there was one notable exception, underwater compressed air energy storage (CAES), for which Britain scored the lowest figure: one. The report notes that Britain’s geography is “not suitable” for the technology, so this is a bit of an outlier; Germany and Denmark also received a score of one for technology.
However, there are some technologies that could allow Britain to improve its performance, without being hampered by geographical limitations as the country is for CAES. An example is that of Carnot batteries – power-to-heat-to-power batteries – for which Britain scored a five, with only one project in the pipeline, a demonstration project delivered through the University of Birmingham that is part of a €4 million EU investment in the technology
France, meanwhile, received the highest score for the technology – an eight – as a Carnot battery demonstration plant is already in operation in the country.
Advancing the technological maturity of technologies such as Carnot batteries will be essential if Britain is to build a more attractive investment landscape for LDES technologies that are currently considered early stage in Britain. Fortunately, the growth of LDES technologies around the world can help remove some of these barriers to broader implementation.
“LDES technologies are gaining popularity worldwide, with some countries already implementing targeted market mechanisms and other countries showing strong potential for future implementation,” said Dr. Rosie Madge, systems engineer at Energy Systems Catapult. “Our analysis highlights that appropriate markets and supporting policy frameworks are essential to unlocking opportunities for LDES.”
