The workshop aims to identify opportunities arising in specific market sectors relevant to energy storage. These opportunities should be entirely technology-agnostic – pointing out the characteristics that will be required for the energy storage system but refraining from any constraint concerning what technology could be used to exploit the opportunity. The event is organised by Dr. Jianing Li from University of Birmingham as part of the Supergen Energy Storage Network+ Flexible Fund Programme.

The event will be “face-to-face” with a mix of presentations and discussions. There will not be any online sessions.

Supergen Energy Storage Network+

The development of energy storage technologies is vital to the UK’s low energy networks, helping to bring carbon emissions to Net Zero by 2050. The Supergen Energy Storage Network+ is an integrated, forward-looking platform that supports, nurtures the expertise of the energy storage community, disseminating it through academia, industry, and policy, at a particularly important time when decisions on future funding and research strategy are still being resolved.

As a community, the Supergen Network+ will identify key research barriers within the energy storage sector so that global agencies can best direct available funding and support. Our vision is an environment where stakeholders with an interest in energy storage are connected, where early career researchers (ECRs) feel nurtured and positioned to advance, and where equality, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) is an integral element of thought and discussion across the field.

Invited speakers include:

Energy storage for balancing the electricity grid in net zero world – which discharge durations and which charge durations will dominate? by Prof. Seamus D. Garvey, University of Nottingham

This talk will take a very singular approach to examining the distribution of energy passed through storage vs the period of time over which energy is being discharged continuously from storage. This approach leads to a strong emphasis on storage durations in the order of 10hrs – 50hrs. The shape of this distribution is rather interesting. We will show that a Weibull distribution does not fit the data well at all but a slightly generalisation of the common Weibull distributation does a really excellent job.

Electrical energy storage for electrical power systems by Dr. Wei He, University of Warwick

Current power systems are still highly reliant on dispatchable fossil fuels to meet variable electrical demand. As fossil fuel generation is progressively replaced with intermittent and less predictable renewable energy generation to decarbonize the power system, Electrical energy storage (EES) technologies are increasingly required to address the supply-demand balance challenge over a wide range of timescales. However, the current use of EES technologies in power systems is significantly below the estimated capacity required for power decarbonization. My presentation will try to explore plausibly required scales and technology types of EES over different regions, followed by discussions on storage cost modelling and predictions for different EES technologies. Opportunities and challenges in developing scalable, economically viable and socio-environmental EES technologies are discussed

Recognising and overcoming challenges in fuel free CAES development by Dr. Edward Barbour, University of Loughborough

Fuel-free Compressed Air Energy Storage (CAES) is frequently suggested as a promising alternative for medium-to-long duration energy storage, but as yet no viable ACAES plant exists. At first sight this appears surprising, given that technical literature consistently estimates efficiencies in excess of 65% and two Diabatic Compressed Air Energy Storage (DCAES) plants exist at utility scale (Huntorf, Germany and Macintosh Alabama, USA), with over 80 years of combined operation. In this presentation I investigate the primary characteristics of a CAES system, the fundamental differences between existing plants and the fuel-free CAES designs proposed and why these differences lead to practical design challenges. Recognising these challenges, which are grounded in thermodynamics and are consistent with evidence from pilot plants, allows us to appropriately design research for overcoming them. Hence I conclude with a discussion of worthwhile areas of future research for both simulation and experimental studies.

Power-to-Fuel: Renewable Energy Storage via Green Hydrogen Production and Utilisation by Dr. Hui Luo, Imperial College London

Hydrogen (H2) is an important vector in the transition to net-zero carbon emissions with ambitious UK targets of reaching 5GW of low carbon hydrogen production capacity by 2030. Although the immediate UK government’s plans are for most of this H2 to be “blue” -still based on gas reforming with carbon capture and storage, the ultimate goal is to produce green hydrogen without carbon emissions. Ideally, this green H2 should be produced at TWh level and with a low cost of < £2/kg to replace blue H2 beyond 2030. Water electrolysis is an attractive clean technology to produce green hydrogen but suffers from high-cost, low efficiency and material rarity, making it too expensive to compete with stream methane reforming (grey hydrogen). Additional technological challenges are associated with the scale-up and integration of sustainable processes, given the enormous size of our energy needs. Furthermore, there are also many social challenges related to reshaping the energy landscape. In this talk, we present the fundamental knowledge of green hydrogen production via water electrolysis, with a particular focus on the current technical challenges and future directions for research development and industrial deployments. The green hydrogen utilisation in fuel cells will also be introduced, along with the application in long-range heavy-duty vehicles.

Energy storage for UK’s secure and sustainable energy future by Dr. Amruta Joshi, Warwick Manufacturing Group, University of Warwick

UK’s net zero targets could be accomplished if each sector including residential, transport, industrial adopt low carbon pathways. Renewable energy systems (RES) are critical building blocks of low carbon pathways; however, their inherent variability pose reliability challenges while embedding them in existing energy infrastructures. Different energy storage technologies such as batteries, thermal energy storage (TES), compressed air energy storage (CAES), pumped hydro storage (PHS) facilitate revamp of energy infrastructures through incorporation of RES by addressing ranges of energy and power requirements characterised by temporal, seasonal and regional variations. Energy storage not only ensures sustainability of energy systems by reducing their environmental, economic, and social burdens but also supports pragmatic energy security. In this presentation, role of energy storage will be assessed in context of recently published British Energy Security Strategy along with a case study of energy storage in sustainable energy system for manufacturing.

Reviewing Energy Storage Policy in the UK and beyond: enabling a low-carbon energy system by Chris Harrison, University of Birmingham

The UK’s decarbonisation targets place great importance on an increasing deployment of renewable energy capacity and a phase-out of carbon-intensive fossil fuel use. To accommodate such efforts, and to maintain reliability at a system level, the deployment of low-carbon energy storage systems is essential. In order to realise the full potential of these technologies, a number of non-technical barriers must be overcome. Government bodies will have a key role to play in helping to drive the necessary transformation. In this talk we will review the current policy landscape for energy storage technologies in the UK and assess key stakeholder viewpoints. This will include a consideration on the role of fiscal incentives and regulatory frameworks in developing these technologies. In addition, an assessment of successful policy efforts from around the globe are identified to offer insight into where the UK may be able to encourage the emerging energy storage market.

Agenda

09:00 Reception

09:20 Opening

09:30 Energy storage for balancing the electricity grid in net zero world – which discharge durations and which charge durations will dominate? by Prof. Seamus D. Garvey, University of Nottingham

10:00 Electrical energy storage for electrical power systems by Dr. Wei He, University of Warwick

10:30 Discussion: current state of the art

11:30 Recognising and overcoming challenges in fuel free CAES development by Dr. Edward Barbour, University of Loughborough

12:00 Power-to-Fuel: Renewable Energy Storage via Green Hydrogen Production and Utilisation by Dr. Hui Luo, Imperial College London

12:30 Discussion: gaps and opportunities

13:30 Lunch break

14:30 Energy storage for UK’s secure and sustainable energy future by Dr. Amruta Joshi, Warwick Manufacturing Group, University of Warwick

15:00 Reviewing Energy Storage Policy in the UK and beyond: enabling a low-carbon energy system by Chris Harrison, University of Birmingham

15:30 Discussion: policy and market

16:30 Closing

Energy Storage: Gaps and Opportunities Analysis