Welcome support for Long-Duration Energy Storage

Welcome news on the latest Long Duration Energy Storage (LDES) support plans put forward for consultation, by the UK's Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ). 

I've been banging the drum for LDES for some time (past Insights here & here) as I'm a firm believer in the need for a diverse mix of technologies as renewables capacity grows year on year. Electrification of transportation and industry, coupled with shorter duration ESS will place a huge demand on Lithium batteries, so we must have alternatives.

There are two notable inclusions…

Firstly, the 6 hours and above duration criteria. I think this makes sense as 4 hours would have presented a grey area with existing lithium-based ESS thriving in this duration period. By offering support for 6+ hour projects, Flow Batteries, Pumped Hydro, CAES, Thermal Storage, hydrogen technologies can become a commercial reality, alongside the already buoyant li-ion BESS technology.

As renewable capacity grows year on year, and intense periods of extreme weather become common, we will see excess generation and even greater curtailment risks, so those technologies offering storage for 10+ hours will become even more important too!

Secondly, the cap and floor mechanism will also be valuable in helping get projects off the ground. We've worked with many wonderful startups innovating wonderful long-duration storage technology but for a long-time now, the high upfront cost of these technologies has put off investors due to uncertainty on ROI, but the “floor” design guarantees a minimum level of revenue return whilst capping excess revenues for the end consumer. This balance should hopefully alleviate some of the associated FUD around non-lithium technologies.

It's now the collective job of the industry to make this a reality, with continued Government support, the right investor appetite, and technology providers continually working on TRL maturity and cost reductions to further boost uptake. I'm certainly excited to see how UK LDES develops over the next 5 years!

I lead the Energy Storage practice at Hyperion Executive Search, helping developers, asset operators, and LDES tech providers to hire great senior and executive talent as they scale. If you're looking for support in growing your team, get in touch today!