Video: Big battery to store energy as liquid air
S. Himmelstein | November 10, 2020One of the largest energy storage projects in Europe is to be completed by 2023 and will bring a 50 MW/250 MWh liquid air energy storage facility to the Manchester, U.K., region.
Armed with a £10 million ($13.2 million) government grant, the Highview Power CRYOBattery system will store enough power for roughly 50,000 homes for five hours. The cryogenic cooling technology turns ambient air into liquid, which can then be used to store and release energy over long periods of time. Air liquefies when cooled down to -196° C and can then be stored in insulated, low pressure vessels. Exposure to ambient temperatures causes rapid re-gasification and a 700-fold expansion in volume, which is then used to drive a turbine and create electricity without combustion.
The cryogenic energy storage system can provide services essential for a robust grid including time shifting, synchronous voltage support, frequency regulation and reserves, synchronous inertia and black start capabilities. Unlike competing long-duration technologies, such as pumped hydro-power or compressed air, the CRYOBattery can be sited just about anywhere with a small footprint.
The elements of the cryogenic energy storage system. Source: Highview Power
Efficiency?
Nope, not in the text. Nor in the video.
The narrator does say that efficiency is enhanced by the cool stores and hot stores, but that's it.
Why is this very basic and fundamental information withheld from an engineering forum?
In reply to #1
Good article in todays FT. Good Efficiency is desirable but in this case the context is putting an emergency source of rapid response energy (electrical) where it might be needed where space is at a premium.
In reply to #2
But that might just as well be accomplished with a bank of Li-Ion batteries and inverter/chargers with a whole lot less complexity.
One example of course comes from Tesla.
https://www.tesla.co m/megapack
Each unit is claimed to have 3 MWhr energy capacity and rated 1.5 MW output power.
This cryogenic system does appear to have higher energy density. Not sure if it is suitable to stack the Megapacks on multiple levels to reduce the footprint.
In reply to #1
The best is about 70 percent if you have a factory next door that is throwing away heat to the environment that you can use.
"Efficiency[edit]
In isolation the process is only 25% efficient, but this is increased to around 50% when used with a low-grade cold store, such as a large gravel bed, to capture the cold generated by evaporating the cryogen. The cold is re-used during the next refrigeration cycle.[3]
Efficiency is further increased when used in conjunction with a power plant or other source of low-grade heat that would otherwise be lost to the atmosphere. Highview Power claims an AC to AC round-trip efficiency of 70%, by using an otherwise waste heat source at 115 °C.[4] "
https://en.wikipedia .org/wiki/Cryogenic_ energy_storage
In reply to #3
Thanks!