The UK government has launched its consultation on its proposals for kickstarting investment into long-duration energy storage (LDES), which includes a cap-and-floor mechanism and excluding lithium-ion from being eligible.

LDES will be pivotal in delivering a smart and flexible energy system integrating low-carbon power, heat and transport, and 20GW of LDES deployments between 2030 and 2050 could result in system savings of £24 billion (US$30.5 billion), the consultation outline said.

LCP Delta and Regen provided the analysis for the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero’s (DESNZ) ‘Long duration electricity storage consultation’, which was was published yesterday (9 January) and is open for comment until 5 March, 2024.

A separate, longer report was produced by the research firms looking in detail at different deployment scenarios and their impact on the energy system: ‘Scenario Deployment Analysis for Long-Duration Electricity Storage’.

DESNZ is proposing a cap-and-floor mechanism for LDES technologies to overcome the barriers to LDES deployment which exist today, the main one being a lack of available revenue streams for LDES applications that can cover the high investment needed.

DESNZ is proposing two Streams through which projects can apply for the scheme. Stream 1 would cover established technologies with a Technology Readiness Level (TRL) of 9 for projects at least 100MW/600MWh. Stream 2 would cover novel technologies with a TRL of 8, with a minimum size of 50MW/300MWh.

However, in a separate release LCP Delta said that as renewable energy grows, primarily wind, increasingly long and intense shortfalls and excess periods of generation would require technologies that can “…flex their demand and supply over extended periods, often in excess of 12 hours…”.

DESNZ said that it considered it appropriate to exclude technologies that can already be funded under existing market arrangements, including lithium-ion which is the technology of choice for the vast majority of battery energy storage system (BESS) projects being deployed, with more than 3.5GW online already in the UK.

It also suggested that projects should not be eligible for the new LDES scheme alongside other government support schemes, which it said would primarily affect hydrogen.

To read the full version of this story, visit Energy-Storage.news.

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