EDF UK has received GBP 2 million in funding from the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy to support four innovative methods of storing energy for longer periods of time. The four longer-duration energy storage demonstration projects will help to achieve the UK’s plan for net zero by balancing the intermittency of renewable energy, creating more options for sustainable, low-cost energy storage in the UK. The funding forms part of the GBP 1 billionn Net Zero Innovation Portfolio and is delivered through a GBP 68 million programme that aims to increase the options for long-duration storage in the UK by scaling new longer-duration energy storage prototypes. Each of the unique projects will store energy over daily, weekly, or even monthly fluctuations, providing vital backup for times when renewable energy is not being produced. The first project will store electricity as hydrogen in a chemical form using depleted uranium hydride (UH3). The project will utilise Urenco’s depleted uranium liability – a waste product from fuel production and reprocessed spent MOX fuel – to safely store hydrogen as UH3, which has approximately twice the volumetric energy density as liquid H2. The project will see EDF R&D lead a consortium combining expertise in engineering and materials from University of Bristol, operating metal hydride storage at UKAEA and handling depleted uranium from Urenco.Pivot Power, part of EDF Renewables, will support the delivery of two demonstration projects. The first project, delivered in partnership with Invinity Energy Systems plc (AIM:IES), will establish the feasibility of developing one of the UK’s largest storage-enabled solar power resources. If selected, Phase Two of this project, which includes a utility-scale 10 MW / 40 MWh Invinity Vanadium Flow Battery, would receive funding under the programme.Pivot Power will also work alongside e-Zinc, with support from Frontier Economics, to ‘metalize energy’, deploying breakthrough technology that stores energy in zinc, an inexpensive and widely available metal that has a high energy density.The final project will explore how electricity, converted into compressed air, can be stored in EDF’s existing gas storage facilities, where EDF Thermal Generation and R&D will partner with io consulting and Hydrostor.
EDF UK has received GBP 2 million in funding from the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy to support four innovative methods of storing energy for longer periods of time. The four longer-duration energy storage demonstration projects will help to achieve the UK’s plan for net zero by balancing the intermittency of renewable energy, creating more options for sustainable, low-cost energy storage in the UK. The funding forms part of the GBP 1 billionn Net Zero Innovation Portfolio and is delivered through a GBP 68 million programme that aims to increase the options for long-duration storage in the UK by scaling new longer-duration energy storage prototypes. Each of the unique projects will store energy over daily, weekly, or even monthly fluctuations, providing vital backup for times when renewable energy is not being produced. The first project will store electricity as hydrogen in a chemical form using depleted uranium hydride (UH3). The project will utilise Urenco’s depleted uranium liability – a waste product from fuel production and reprocessed spent MOX fuel – to safely store hydrogen as UH3, which has approximately twice the volumetric energy density as liquid H2. The project will see EDF R&D lead a consortium combining expertise in engineering and materials from University of Bristol, operating metal hydride storage at UKAEA and handling depleted uranium from Urenco.Pivot Power, part of EDF Renewables, will support the delivery of two demonstration projects. The first project, delivered in partnership with Invinity Energy Systems plc (AIM:IES), will establish the feasibility of developing one of the UK’s largest storage-enabled solar power resources. If selected, Phase Two of this project, which includes a utility-scale 10 MW / 40 MWh Invinity Vanadium Flow Battery, would receive funding under the programme.Pivot Power will also work alongside e-Zinc, with support from Frontier Economics, to ‘metalize energy’, deploying breakthrough technology that stores energy in zinc, an inexpensive and widely available metal that has a high energy density.The final project will explore how electricity, converted into compressed air, can be stored in EDF’s existing gas storage facilities, where EDF Thermal Generation and R&D will partner with io consulting and Hydrostor.
