The UK just put £28 million behind a battery that can run for 4 days
Key Points
- The government has launched the Ultra-Long Duration Energy Storage Challenge, offering £28 million for technology that can store clean electricity for 100 hours or more.
- Funding covers two areas: new battery technologies and systems that store hydrogen underground.
- The government says underground hydrogen storage could cut total energy system costs by between £14 billion and £50 billion between 2035 and 2050.
- UK Research and Innovation has also opened a separate competition offering up to £3 million for early studies into new battery technologies.
- Ofgem is consulting on support for 16 long duration storage projects, including the first new pumped storage hydropower schemes in more than 40 years.
The government has opened a £28 million funding round for technology that can store clean electricity for 100 hours or more.
The Ultra-Long Duration Energy Storage Challenge launched on Thursday (20 August), with the money running through UK Research and Innovation.
UK innovators can bid for grants to develop advanced batteries and systems that store hydrogen underground. A project that runs for 100 hours would keep homes and businesses supplied for at least four days.
Wind and solar are the cheapest ways to generate electricity in the UK, but neither runs to order. When there is no wind or sunlight, the grid falls back on other sources including gas-fired generation, which ties household bills to international gas prices.
Storage would allow the grid to hold clean power when it is not needed and release it when it is, reducing how often gas plants run.
The first part of the Challenge funds battery technologies capable of supplying energy for more than 100 hours.
Nobody has commercialised these at scale yet, which the government said gives UK firms an early foothold in a new market.
The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero and the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade are behind the launch alongside UKRI.
“Homegrown clean energy is our route to more affordable bills and energy security and storing it for when we need it most is critical,” said Energy Minister Michael Shanks.
“By backing new cutting-edge battery technology and hydrogen storage with this £28 million grant, we will store more clean power, reduce reliance on expensive gas generation and deliver a more secure energy system,” he added.
Hydrogen stored underground
The second part of the challenge aims to support the development and testing of systems that hold hydrogen underground and release it when the grid needs it.
The government puts the potential saving at between £14 billion and £50 billion in total energy system costs between 2035 and 2050.
“Ultra-long duration energy storage is critical for ensuring the UK moves to a more secure, low-carbon energy system with lower costs for consumers and businesses,” said Clare Jackson, CEO of Hydrogen UK.
“Hydrogen has a fundamental role to play in that future energy mix, providing a way to store renewable energy over long periods and use it when the system needs it most,” she added.
UKRI has also opened a competition offering up to £3 million for studies into new battery technologies that could deliver electricity to the UK grid for 100 hours or more. Applications run through the Innovation Funding Service.
The launch completes the £102 million Clean Energy challenges, which also include the £74 million Consumer-led Flexibility Challenge. That programme funds technology that shifts electricity use to cheaper periods of the day.
Both sit within the R&D Missions Accelerator Programme, which is investing at least £500 million by 2030 and has launched 11 challenges so far.
Ofgem is separately consulting on plans to support 16 long duration electricity storage projects.
The plans would unlock the first new pumped storage hydropower projects in the UK in more than 40 years.
