Plans by Highview Power to create a 2.5GWh power plant at Hunterston have been announced.
As part of the company’s long-duration energy storage (LDES) programme, Highview aims to turn the site into a power plant with the capacity to store enough energy to deliver power for 650,000 homes for 12.5 hours.
The plant would be the largest liquid air energy facility in the world once complete.
On Monday, October 14, executives from Highview met with First Minister John Swinney at Scotland House in London.
Mr Swinney’s government support the proposals for Hunterston which forms part of the second phase of Highview’s multi-billion-pound LDES programme.
Once complete, Hunterston will deliver five times Scotland’s current operational battery storage capacity and is strategically placed in the grid transmission network to maximise the use of Scottish-produced renewable electricity.
Development rights for Hunterston have already been secured by Highview and the plant – located on Peel Ports site in North Ayrshire – will be built in two stages.
Stage one will see the grid connection and works to provide grid stability services before a full liquid air energy storage (LAES) build-out.
The planning process for the second phase is due to commence shortly.
More than 1,000 construction jobs will be supported by the project with a further 650 in the supply chain.
Speaking after the meeting with Highview, Mr Swinney said: “The creation of the largest liquid air energy facility in the world, in Ayrshire, demonstrates just how valuable Scotland is in delivering a low carbon future as well as supporting the global transition to net zero.
“Scotland presents a unique environment for innovation and deployment of storage technologies and this ground-breaking project will bring hundreds of high-skilled jobs to the region both during construction and afterwards in supporting the supply chain.”
Richard Butland, chief executive at Highview Power, said: “We were delighted to meet the First Minister, and thrilled to announce our next project in Hunterston, the first of four, which kick starts our multi-billion-pound LDES programme across the UK to unlock 10GWh of LDES.
“This project will be transformational for Scotland in providing critical storage for offshore wind and solving grid constraints as well as delivering major investment in Ayrshire, and the wider region.”
Chris O’Shea, group chief executive at Centrica added: “It is fantastic to see our partners at Highview Power expanding with their new project at Hunterston.
“Long Duration Energy Storage will be vital to unlocking the UK’s energy potential, and Highview’s technology will be a key part of that. With innovation and investment, the UK will achieve its ambitious net zero goals.”
Julian Leslie, director of strategic energy planning and chief engineer at NESO, said: “Technology such as Highview Power’s LDES proposals will quite simply unlock the power of renewable energy in our energy system, stabilise our grid system, and allow for the delivery of a 100% zero carbon electricity system. In our Holistic Transition Pathway, we have identified a 81GWh requirement for LDES by 2030 to decarbonise the grid and this announcement paves the way to realise this goal.”
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