The House of Lords Science and Technology Committee released a report today (13 March) determining that the government must make “major decisions about future energy infrastructure”.
The Long-duration energy storage: get on with it report highlights that the government must “act fast” to ensure long-duration energy storage (LDES) technologies can scale up and contribute to the decarbonisation of the electricity system. This target is a mere 11 years away.
In a bid to support the technology, the Committee’s report outlined that a coordinated effort is needed to unlock investment in LDES and to ensure a strategic reserve of storage is delivered both to achieve net zero and to protect the UK from future energy supply shocks, a perspective shared by various members from across the energy industry.
One of the biggest questions raised by the energy industry in response to the government’s consultation on LDES technologies was the decision to exclude lithium-ion batteries from the LDES business model. For example, battery developer-operator Field’s COO, Luke Gibson, stated that excluding lithium-ion technology at a 6-hour duration “should be reconsidered”.
The report also discussed this topic, with the Committee stating that one of the most significant barriers to LDES technologies has been a greater focus on lithium-ion batteries. It said, “One of the key barriers is that there is still too much focus on lithium-ion”.
Whilst the Committee has welcomed the government’s recent reforms to the energy system, such as committing to delivering a Strategic Spatial Energy Plan, the report raises concerns that it is unclear who will be responsible for implementing this plan or how future energy supply crises will be managed.
Energy storage can mitigate curtailment concerns
A noteworthy inclusion in the report’s conclusions is how energy storage can bolster the grid and provide several benefits. According to the Committee, energy storage benefits can provide power that can be turned on and off at will, enhancing grid flexibility.
LDES technologies, on the other hand, could reduce costs elsewhere in the system and allow a more significant proportion of cheap renewables to be built, reducing electricity prices overall. This could aid in reducing wind curtailment, as seen along the Scottish-English border.
This was a topic explored in a recent Current± article, which highlighted the role that energy storage could play in reducing curtailment on the grid. Instead of the need to curtail wind resources when it is windy, if sufficient energy storage is connected to the grid, this energy could be released instead of firing up gas power plants, and additional wind resources could be used to charge up batteries.
The result would mean a minimal impact on energy bills to consumers as opposed to the current course of action.
Government needs more urgency for LDES
The consensus from the Committee’s report was that there would be a need for “tens of terawatt-hours of LDES to decarbonise the grid”; however, the government has seemingly not committed to a specific target, damaging investor confidence in the technology and, as a result, new developments have stalled.
As such, the Committee is calling on the government to set an explicit minimum target for how much “no-regrets” LDES and generating capacity it wants to see operational by 2035, the date the UK must decarbonise its electricity system.
The Committee said the target should set out a credible timescale with interim milestones for achieving this that works backwards from 2035, accounting for decision time, planning and consenting and construction of facilities. It should also expand on the 30GW target of short-term storage, interconnection and demand-side response.