Responding to the Government’s announcement to support long duration energy storage, Naomi Baker, Senior Policy Manager at Energy UK, said:
“Energy UK welcomes today’s announcement of a cap and floor financing scheme to support long duration energy storage. By providing long-term certainty and supporting investment, the UK is re-affirming its position as a global leader in the development of flexible technologies for the future power system. This is a hugely positive step towards reaching the Government’s target of a clean power system by 2030.
“Longer duration storage will help to build a resilient system by acting as giant batteries storing large amounts renewable energy and releasing it onto the grid and into homes to meet demand. It will also drive value by maximising the output from our renewables fleet and driving lower bills for households and business.
“Great Britain currently has 2.8 GW of longer duration storage from 4 pumped hydro plants, built over four decades ago and our members have already committed significant investment into major new pumped hydro projects including Coire Glas and Cruachan in Scotland. However, this needs to expand to support Great Britain’s growing renewables fleet and today’s decision will mean they can get building, to bring these projects online for when the system will need them. Alongside established technologies, this support will allow emerging technologies to come forward and compete to drive value for all.“