About Birmingham Centre for Cryogenic Energy Storage

The University of Birmingham won a total of £12.3m grant from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and industry to create a centre to develop energy storage technology.

The Birmingham Centre for Cryogenic Energy Storage has built an excellent relationship with industry since its inception, creating partnerships with Highview Power Storage, the Dearman Engine Company, Air Products, Energy Generation and Supply KTN, ARUP, and the Energy Technologies Institute.

Cryogenic Energy Storage at University of Birmingham

The Birmingham Centre for Cryogenic Energy Storage (BCCES) is the first in the UK to have a research facility for energy storage using cryogenic liquids, comprising new laboratories, state of the art equipment, and a major demonstration plant.

Cryogenic Energy Storage at University of Birmingham

Transcript

The technology we are developing at Birmingham is around cryogenic energy storage and that involves using the off peak electricity or electricity that has been generated and not needed and using that to cool down and refrigerate the air around us. Turn that into a liquid form at minus 200 centigrade, store that in a large tank like the one behind me for a number of hours until its needed again. Then when we do need the electricity at peak times, we take that liquid, expand it and that turns a turbine that generates the electricity. We feed that back into the National Grid as a supply. Birmingham is playing a leading role in the UK, we've got this technology which is one of the foremost in the country and globally. We are a hub for a lot of the thermal and cryogenic energy research in the UK. The impact of the plant really is, a) to look at issues related to this technology; b) looking at the better integration of this technology, look at different materials to be used in the system and how it is integrated with the grid. The Thermal part of the Energy Research Accelerator is exploring technologies from hot to cold. On the cold side clearly the cryogenic energy storage plant plays a very important role. One can use waste heat to boil the liquid nitrogen within the energy storage plant, and generate electricity. So the integration of hot and cold technologies is a really important part of T-ERA.A connection with industry is really, really important. There's a danger that research which is done inside a University can be isolated and in the end have little value to the outside world. By working with industry we can ensure that the research we are doing is real, has value to that company, helps them grow and also helps them to employ more people, so more jobs.

Though thermal energy storage has been commonly thought of in terms of heating (relative to ambient), energy can just as well be stored by cooling materials. Cryogenic energy storage systems use off-peak electricity to liquefy air. The cryogenic liquid that is formed is stored in a vessel then vaporised into a gas during an expansion process, which drives a turbine. This system generates electricity when it is most needed; taking off-peak electricity and using it at peak times will help to solve the ‘wrong-time wrong-place’ energy generation and supply problem.

Cryogenic liquid can additionally be used to improve the efficiency of diesel generators, routinely used as reserve capacity for the National Grid. The system is also an efficient method of generating electricity from low-grade waste heat from power stations or industrial processes. Furthermore, CES can be built alongside liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals to recover cold energy. Unlike some other energy storage technologies, CES does not require scarce resource, and is not limited by geography or geology.

The early work behind CES was undertaken in the UK by Professor Yulong Ding, the incoming Chamberlain Chair at the University of Birmingham, who holds patents covering CES and cryogenic engines. A recent report ‘Liquid Air in the Energy and Transport Systems’ (Centre for Low Carbon Futures, May 2013) and major conference at The Royal Academy of Engineering drew on expertise from academia and industry to share the contribution CES could make to the energy system, and its benefit for the UK economy.