- UK government has awarded over £32 million in funding energy storage projects.
- Energy storage helps us benefit from these renewables and improve efficiency.
UK government has awarded over £32 million in funding projects developing cutting-edge innovative and profitable energy storage technologies that can help increase the resilience of the UK’s electricity grid. Five projects across the UK are beneficiaries of the funds under the second phase of the Longer Duration Energy Storage (LODES) competition. The competition aimed to develop technologies that can store energy as heat, electricity or a low-carbon energy carrier like hydrogen.
The application of renewables like solar and wind in power generation means that energy can be produced when it is not needed, such as during extended periods of high wind. Therefore, energy storage technologies can store excess energy is essential to prevent energy loss. Minister for Climate Graham Stuart said: “Accelerating renewables is key to boosting our energy resilience. Energy storage helps us get the full benefit of these renewables, improving efficiency and helping drive down costs in the long term.”
This second phase of the LODES competition provides further funding to the most promising projects from Phase 1, enabling them to build prototypes and demonstrators to bring their projects to life. The projects include StorTera Ltd, based in Edinburgh; Sunamp Ltd, based in East Lothian; the University of Sheffield; RheEnergise Ltd; EDF UK R&D, in partnership with the University of Bristol, Urenco and the UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA). Developing energy storage will strengthen the UK’s energy security by helping unlock the full potential of home-grown renewables.