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The Chair of the Nuclear Free Local Authorities has made a plea to the new Minister of State for Energy for the Department of Energy Security and Net Zero to prioritise investment in energy storage capacity alongside renewables as a key component in making Britain a Net Zero nation.
Energy storage, both short- and long-term, is often an unsung, but essential, element to achieving – as is the Labour Government’s stated ambition – the goal to make the UK a ‘clean, green energy superpower’.
Numerous academic studies have demonstrated that this is not only possible solely through investment in renewables, but that it can be achieved at a cost to the taxpayer that is £100 billion lower than one which embraces nuclear energy.
The NFLA’s Scotland Policy Advisor Pete Roche has just written an excellent briefing published under the No2 Nuclear banner titled, ‘Energy Storage and Flexibility in a 100% Renewable Energy System’,[i] which highlights its criticality in capturing the surplus energy often generated, but unused, by renewables as well is in more effectively managing energy demand against supply.
Dr. M.V. Ramana, the Simons Chair in Global Disarmament and Human Security at the University of British Columbia, described the balance between generation, storage and management:
“We have learned how to manage grids with high proportions of renewable sources. To balance this variability, we must invest in a mix of renewable energy technologies across various regions, and in battery and other storage technologies to store excess energy. In addition, we need to shape electricity demand to more closely match supply.”
This latest paper helpfully forensically examines the technologies currently available, pending deployment, or in development, with coverage of storage solutions for both electricity and heat, the latter being critical in decarbonising industry.
In a recent article in the New Scientist, former BBC energy correspondent, Roger Harrabin identified that there are storage technologies which are ‘surprisingly simple solutions’ to the storage of both electricity and heat, such as gravity storage and those which use common materials like salt, sand, water and hot bricks. Some of these are technologies in which Britain in leading the world.
In his letter, Councillor Lawrence O’Neill draws the attention of Minister Michael Shanks to Pete Roche’s paper and calls on the Minister to establish a high-level specialist energy storage forum, reporting into the Labour Government’s new Clean Energy Mission Board, to ‘keep a laser focus’ on progressing the capacity and variety of energy storage solutions. Councillor O’Neill also suggests that Roger Harrabin may wish to become engaged with this work, given his interest.
The letter also highlights the need for the new government to establish a ‘market support scheme’ to bring forward the six ‘shovel ready’ long-term pumped storage schemes that are waiting in the wings in Scotland and identifies some published work by academics at the Australian National University about the virtues of repurposing former coal mines as closed pumped storage systems. They have mapped potential sites across the globe, including in the UK, using data collected by the crew of the Endeavour space shuttle in 2000.
Ends://For more information, contact NFLA Secretary Richard Outram by email to richard.outram@manchester.gov.uk
Notes to Editors
The letter sent to the Minister for Energy Michael Shanks MP on 11 September reads:
Dear Michael,
An appeal to prioritise energy storage
I am writing to you as Chair on behalf of the UK / Ireland Nuclear Free Local Authorities.
Congratulations on your Ministerial appointment within the new Labour Government. May I wish you every success in your new role and I very much look forward to working with you in the future.
The Nuclear Free Local Authorities were established in 1981 as the collective voice of local authorities opposed to nuclear power and nuclear weapons and in favour of renewables and peace. Our membership comprises local authorities in Scotland, England, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Republic.
The NFLAs fully support the government’s ambition to make Britain a ‘clean, green energy superpower’ and to secure energy independence, but solely through investment in renewables rather than in nuclear.
The new government has recently launched a new Clean Energy Mission Board and the new Onshore Wind Taskforce. We welcome these forums, as they complement the Solar Task Force established by your predecessor. However, whilst the accompanying departmental announcement references the remit to deliver more onshore wind and solar, and that the Board will ‘keep a laser focus across government on delivering clean, cheap energy to homes and businesses’, there is no mention of the necessity to attend also to energy storage.
For this is indeed a vital component of any strategy to make Britain a ‘clean energy superpower’, as the output from wind and solar power can only be fully utilised if there is significant energy storage capacity to retain the excess energy that is often generated for use on days which are dull or still.
Without such storage capacity, we shall continue to see the travesty of constraint payments in the order of £100s millions made to operators to turn off wind turbines because our grid system lacks the capacity to accept the electricity that is generated. With sufficient storage, this wasteful practice could be ended, and electricity could instead be generated and retained for future use as needed.
I would like to draw your attention, and that of your civil servant team, to an excellent report just published by No2 Nuclear Power, ‘Energy Storage and Flexibility in a 100% Renewable Energy System’, written by Pete Roche, our esteemed and knowledgeable NFLA Scotland Advisor. I have attached the report.
In this report, Pete provides a forensic analysis of the need for energy storage, but also of the many options that are currently deployable or in development.
On Page 3 of his report, Pete references former BBC energy analyst Roger Harrabin who, in an article published in the New Scientist[ii], identified that whilst governments have typically focused on expensive storage solutions, such as hydrogen and lithium-ion batteries, that there are some ‘surprisingly simple solutions’ to storage of both electricity and heat, such as gravity storage and solutions which use salt, sand, water and hot bricks.
In our view, it is therefore essential to invest in the development of a whole panoply of storage solutions, at both a domestic and industrial scale, as in some of these technologies, for example gravity storage, Britain has the potential to lead the world.
May I therefore suggest that DESNZ Ministers look to establish a high-level specialist energy storage forum, reporting into the Mission Board, to ‘keep a laser focus’ on this specific area of work? Perhaps Mr Harrabin might be interested in becoming engaged with this work?
One specific storage deficiency issue that the NFLAs identified in correspondence in July 2023 with the previous government and the First Minister of Scotland was the need for more long-term storage and the potential for pumped hydro storage to meet some of that need, with six shovel-ready schemes in Scotland waiting in the wings for a market support scheme.
To accompany this correspondence, the NFLAs published a Policy Briefing No 269 titled ‘Scotland, the UK and Energy Storage’, also penned at our invitation by Pete Roche,[iii] and on receiving the government’s response, Policy Briefing No 273 ‘Government reply to NFLA letter on pumped storage finance.’ [iv] Both briefings are attached.
We trust that establishing a mechanism to make taking these projects forward financially viable will be a priority for the new government.
A paper by academics from the Australian National University in ‘Renewable Energy’ Issue 224, titled ‘A global atlas of pumped hydro systems that repurpose existing mining sites’, outlined the potential of ‘repurposing an existing mining pit, pit lake, tailings pond, or underground mining tunnel as a pumped hydro reservoir instead’. Global Brownfield and Greenfield atlases are accessible online[v] tantalisingly identifying many potential sites in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The relevant papers are attached.
Thank you for reading this letter and in anticipation of your early reply. Please direct this to NFLA Secretary Richard Outram by email to richard.outram@manchester.gov.uk
Yours sincerely,
Councillor Lawrence O’Neill,
Chair, UK/Ireland Nuclear Free Local Authorities
[i] https://www.no2nuclearpower.org.uk/wp/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/nuClearNews_No145.pdf
[ii] https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg26335002-500-how-incredibly-simple-tech-can-supercharge-the-race-to-net-zero/
[iii] https://www.nuclearpolicy.info/briefings/nfla-policy-briefing-269-scotland-the-uk-and-energy-storage/
[iv] https://www.nuclearpolicy.info/briefings/nfla-policy-briefing-273-government-reply-to-nfla-letter-on-pumped-storage-finance/
