UK scaleup Highview Power has secured 300mn to build a liquid air storage plant in Manchester.
The UK governments Infrastructure Bank led thefundinground.
Investment bank Goldman Sachs, British energy firm Centrica, and mining giant Rio Tinto also took part.
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Once complete, it will have a storage capacity of 300 MWh.
Thats enough energy to power around 300,000 homes.
However, this energy wont release all at once, but gradually 50 MWs per hour over six hours.
Construction on the plant has begun, with completion scheduled for early 2026.
Highview expects the project to support over 700 jobs.
Highview appears to havestarted building the plantback in 2020.
Cryogenic energy storage might be new, but its not unproven.
Highview and some of its competitors, like Hydrostor from Canada, have already built grid-connected demonstrator plants.
The technology is actually quite simple.
This turns the air into liquid.
When you need energy again you decompress the air, which passes over a turbine, generating electricity.
Liquid air storage can store renewable energy for up to several weeks, much longer than lithium-ion batteries.
Highview says its facilities can be built pretty much anywhere and take only a couple of years to construct.
The scaleup is already planning four more plants.
These will be larger than the Carrington facility, with a combined energy storage capacity of 2.5 GWh.
Together, Highview expects plants to cost 3bn.
Highviews plans are welcomed to support this target, he said.
This ambitious plan would cost 9bn and would support 6,000 jobs, according to the company.
Liquid air storage isnt the only option at the governments disposal.
The UK is also investing heavily in lithium-ion battery farms andgiant water batteries.
Meanwhile, startups across Europe are working to scale everything fromenergy-storing liftsandsand batteriestogiant domes filled with CO2.
Story bySion Geschwindt
Sion is a freelance science and technology reporter, specialising in climate and energy.
