London headquartered Highview Power has entered into a joint venture agreement to co-develop 50MW/400MWh and 100MW/800MWh cryogenic energy storage projects in Latin America with Chile’s backup power generation provider Energía Latina S.A.-Enlasa.
The joint venture, named Highview Enlasa, aims to open up the Latin American energy markets to baseload renewable energy potential by pairing long-duration storage to renewable energy sources.
The projects will use Highview’s technology— it stores cooled air at -196o which is then heated to cause re-gasification which in turn drives turbines to create power.
Work is due to start next year with operations expected in 2023.
The plants will deliver grid stability services, including synchronous dynamic inertia, continuous reactive power and fast fault current infeed.
Javier Cavada, CEO of Highview Power, told BEST: “As more renewable energy is incorporated into the grid, long-duration storage is needed in Latin America and elsewhere to achieve full decarbonisation and to maintain grid stability.
“As we look at the expected market developments and the integration of new solar in Chile, we, along with local market players, are seeing that over the next decade the demand for new energy storage exceeds 2GW/12GWh between now and 2030, and an additional 5GW/30GWh from 2030 to 2040.”
Chile has one of the best solar irradiations of the world and the deployment of solar power together with the national decarbonisation strategy require long duration energy storage to provide the needed energy balance to achieve a sustainable grid.
Other Latin America markets have similar initiatives, with the plants in Chile serving as a test bed for business cases for the region.