Molten salt pumps improve efficiency for new long-duration energy storage facility
Sulzer has signed an agreement with Highview Power to deliver eight molten salt pumps, five cryopumps and a selection of auxiliary services. The deal represents an engineering-led collaboration that will help unlock long-duration energy storage at Highview Power’s new facility at Carrington, Manchester, and at other future facilities across the UK.
While solar, wind and other green power sources offer enormous reserves of emission-free power, they can also be intermittent. If these renewable sources generate more supply than demand at any one time, they can overwhelm the grid. In the UK, where wind produces about 30% of all electricity, the grid operator will often pay developers to turn their wind turbines off. This costly process, known as curtailment, is a growing issue as the UK introduces more wind power supply into the grid.
Highview Power’s liquid air energy storage (LAES) system, the first to deliver commercial-scale liquid air energy storage in the UK, represents a significant opportunity in the global energy transition, delivering more renewable energy into the power grid through its innovative storage technology. The system captures excess power, releasing it back at times of high demand or reduced generation. It also offers critical grid stability services.
Alternative energy storage
Highview Power CEO Richard Butland explained how the system works: “Excess energy is used to clean and dry air, which is then refrigerated and compressed until it liquefies and can be stored in tanks. When power is needed, the liquid is pumped at high pressure and heated, so it expands, and drives a gas turbine to generate electricity.”
Sulzer will supply Highview Power with cryogenic pumps and a molten salt storage system. The new Carrington facility will use these molten salt processes to recover and store otherwise wasted energy for use in heat generation, further maximising its efficiency.
Expected peak temperatures in the new plant of around 435°C sit well below the 650°C standard tolerance of Sulzer’s specialist pumps. Nonetheless, the LAES project poses specific engineering challenges around integrating both cryogenic pumps and molten salt pumps efficiently.
Rajesh Chakravarty, Sales Director for Sulzer Energy – Middle East, outlined the benefit of the system: “Molten salts represent a state-of-the-art solution to renewable energy storage, where energy providers can tap into excess production to smooth output at peak times and avoid costly excess. Given the collaborative nature of the project, we anticipate a 14-month manufacturing and delivery timescale despite the complexity involved, and we expect to see the plant operational by March 2027.”
Sulzer’s system will ensure that Highview Power’s innovative liquid air energy storage technology is even more efficient, delivering more renewable energy onto the grid in the UK and beyond.
