Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham officially marked the start of construction of Highview’s 300MWh liquid air energy storage facility (LAES) in Carrington.
The groundbreaking ceremony at the Trafford Low Carbon Energy Park welcomed Burnham along with Highview CEO Richard Butland, chairman Colin Roy, and Andrew Western, MP for Stretford and Urmston, as construction begins on the facility expected to open in late 2026.
Highview claims the project is the world’s largest commercial-scale plant of its kind.
The Carrington plant will provide 50 MW/300 MWh of storage capacity over six hours. The facility will be integrated with existing substation and transmission infrastructure while incorporating a stability island designed to increase the resilience of the local network to outages and blackouts.
“Storing renewable energy so that it is there when people need it will be essential for Greater Manchester in the years to come,” Burnham said at the ceremony.
“This project is an important step in that direction and is already supporting jobs and skills in the area through the construction and supply chain.”
The development represents the first project in the Trafford Low Carbon Energy Park and lays the foundation for what Greater Manchester authorities expect will become a major clean energy hub in the region.
The Highview liquid air energy storage system captures excess renewable energy during periods of low demand and stores it as liquid air for hours, days or weeks.
When necessary, the stored air expands to generate electricity, providing zero-emission power. The technology operates for 40 to 50 years without degradation and offers fully localizable, modular deployment options.
The system addresses critical challenges in renewable energy integration, boosting intermittent wind and solar power generation while reducing curtailment and supporting the transition away from fossil fuel dependence.
Highview secured Last year there was £300m of funding available from the National Wealth Fund, Centrica, and a syndicate including Rio Tinto, Goldman Sachs, KIRKBI and Mosaic Capital to build the Carrington facility.
This investment follows the company’s previous financing achievements, including £130m secured for its Scottish Stability Island project earlier this month. The Stability Island is an independent synchronous condenser and power electronics facility that will help stabilize the electrical grid in addition to Highview’s planned energy storage project at that location.
“This is a hugely important moment for Highview as we start work on our first LAES facility in Carrington,” said Butland. “This site is the first in our planned program of energy storage installations in the UK, and we expect the first phase to be operational in the second half of next year.”
The Carrington project builds on Highview’s 17-year development of liquid air energy storage technology in Britain, positioning the company to deliver renewable energy storage at scale. The facility is part of Highview’s wider UK expansion strategy, which has included attracting investor interest over the years JCG’s doubled investment in the liquid air energy storage specialist.
The technology uses proprietary analytics platforms to predict energy needs while orchestrating strategic capital deployment for solution development.
Highview manages its technology portfolio to design, build and operate assets that meet specific network requirements.
The Carrington facility will act as the pioneer of Highview’s Millennium Series and will demonstrate the commercial potential of long-term energy storage (LDES) at scale.
