Highview Power has contracted Tenaska Power Services to plan and deliver energy management services for four cryogenic storage plants totalling up to 4GWh in Texas, US.
The UK firm has asked the Nebraska-based Tenaska to identify, model, optimise and provide energy management services over two years in the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) market.
The final sites are still being finalised, but because Tenaska has a strong footprint in the ERCOT region (it has a regional office in the state), projects are likely to be developed there, a Highview spokesman told BEST Battery Briefing.
The spokesman said the two immediate benefits of using cryogenic, long-term storage was its ability to integrate renewable energy resources without affecting grid reliability, and grid resiliency.
They said: “Our long-duration energy storage systems, when paired with renewable energy sources, are equivalent in performance to thermal and nuclear power.
“Of course, the fact that the technology uses no chemicals, all benign materials, has zero water impact and emits no emissions is an added benefit, not only to grid operators, but to consumers as well.”
Highview’s technology draws ambient air into the system and then cools it to -196°C (-320˚F), where it is stored in insulated, low-pressure vessels.
To deploy, the air is exposed to ambient temperatures that cause rapid re-gasification and a 700-fold expansion in volume, which is used to drive a turbine and create electricity without combustion.
The technology has a capacity range of 20MW/80MWh up to 200MW/1.2GWh.
