Introduction to Long-Duration Energy Storage
The energy regulatory authority has selected a list of 77 projects for long-duration energy storage, which is crucial for maximizing renewable energies and reducing the costs of paying wind farms to switch off when excess energy cannot be managed. These projects aim to record excess renewable power supply for later use, including lithium-ion, river, and sugar-based "super batteries" as well as pumped hydro storage.
The Problem of Intermittent Supply
The LDE program (Long-Duration Energy Storage) is intended to tackle the problem of intermittent supply of wind and solar energy, which often produce excess electricity that the network cannot use and cannot be saved for later use. At the moment, wind farms are routinely paid for not producing any power supply due to "restrictions" in the national network, which means that the excessive offer, mainly from the north of Scotland, cannot be directed to the field of topping, mainly in southern England.
The Cost of Restriction Payments
The restriction payments exceeded 1 billion GBP in 2024 and are expected to increase with the energy transfer, whereby the consumer bills are added because the network is added faster than it expands to manage them. According to the regulatory authority, the LDE systems will help reduce payments for the restriction and reduce the invoices in good time.
The "Cap and Floor" Financing System
As part of the "Cap and Floor" financing system, investors will take over the investments in the selected projects, whereby the income from future operating processes is limited and excess prices are returned. This model, which repeats the arrangements "Contracts for Difference", have subsidized wind and solar energy, should give developers the trust of continuing massive investments in the development of technologies.
Types of Energy Storage
While Li-ion and flow batteries are already used on a large scale, sugar batteries are unproven, and the battery storage has to expand enormously in order to handle the network with oversupply on electricity. Pumped hydro storage, in which excess electricity pumps for later use in reservoirs, is a proven, reliable technology from the 1900s, but is extremely expensive. The planned Coire Glass project, in which a hydropower plant is built one kilometer into a mountain with a view of Loch Lochie and connected to tunnels on a new reservoir at the top, will cost an estimated 1.5 billion GBP.
The Importance of Renewable Energy
Renewable electricity is the key to confiscation of control over our own energy system and the end of the expensive trust in the turbulent wholesale gas market. Improving our ability to keep as much local energy as possible so that the turbines continue to rotate when the wind is strongest – and on the days when the gusts fall and the sun does not shine, this reserve can be required of excessive clean strength. By scaling this technology, we can change the way in which electricity is delivered in this country when demand is high – with the help of cheaper, local solar and wind power in order to end our dependence on costly markets with fossil fuels once and for all.
