Highview has secured £130 million in funding to commence work on the first stage of its planned 3.2GWh hybrid long-duration energy storage solution in Hunterston, Scotland. This brings the total raised to commercialise and roll out Highview’s long duration storage solutions to over £500 million.
This latest investment round, involving Scottish National Investment Bank (SNIB), the British multinational energy and services company Centrica, and investors including Goldman Sachs, KIRKBI and Mosaic Capital, will fund construction of the first phase of the Hunterston project, a “stability island”, which will provide system support to the electricity grid.
This stability island is a key component of Highview’s LDES system. It can operate independently of the energy storage elements and will deliver critical inertia, short circuit and voltage support to the UK power grid. The asset will support the grid at a location that faces considerable stability challenges. In turn, this will enable more power to be transmitted from the point of generation in Scotland to areas of high demand, preventing curtailment of wind energy across Scotland.
The facility at Hunterston kicks off the deployment of Highview’s Millennium Series of 3.2GWh hybrid long duration energy storage facilities, which will include further plants across the UK. They follow the development of a 300MWh liquid air energy storage facility at Carrington in Manchester, which is currently under construction. The first phase, also a stability island, is expected to be operational by August 2026, while the LAES system is expected to be operational by 2027.
As well as the stability island, the facility at Hunterston will also eventually incorporate a hybrid long duration energy storage system, combining both liquid air storage and lithium-ion batteries for greater operational performance. This means that the facility will be able to send more power to the grid for longer, in a flexible way, maximising the asset for the benefit of the system operator.
The energy storage element of the Hunterston facility received validation recently, when it was named as an eligible project for Ofgem’s Cap and Floor support scheme for long duration energy storage, along with a planned facility at Killingholme, Lincolnshire.
The facility will be located on the Peel Ports site in North Ayrshire and is expected to support 1,000 jobs onsite during construction and 650 jobs in the supply chain during the build-out of all phases of the project. The stability island is expected to be operational by January 2028, while the full facility is expected to be operational by 2030.
The Hunterston facility will also incorporate grid analytics to deliver insight into current and future energy usage and grid activity.
Richard Butland, Chief Executive at Highview, commented, “This capital raise is an important milestone for Highview, enabling us to build out the first phase of our long duration energy facility at Hunterston. By delivering much-needed grid services in this location, our stability island asset will prevent costly curtailment and maximise the renewable energy that we generate in the UK.
“Through the delivery of this phase and building on the lessons learned at our Carrington facility, we are also developing and strengthening our UK supply chain. This is turn supports future Highview projects, as well as the UK’s wider green economy, driving skills development, job creation, and economic growth across the country.”
Mark Munro, CIO at the Scottish National Investment Bank said, “Wind production curtailment and intermittency continue to be challenges across the supply chain. As Scotland scales its renewable energy production, it’s critical that grid resilience is fortified so that more of it can be used.”
Chris O’Shea, Group Chief Executive, Centrica said: “Low carbon storage is an essential part of the solution for how we manage the energy system of the future, and Highview’s LDES system is the kind of innovative facility that is needed as the UK transitions to a more intermittent energy mix from renewables.”
“Hunterston’s grid and analytics services will also enable the UK grid operator to better balance supply and demand challenges and help ensure our customers have electricity available when the wind doesn’t blow and the sun doesn’t shine.”
