POWER August 2018 - 14

C's Arabelle turbines will be the largest
ever built. EDF's Olkiluoto 3 EPR plant in
Finland is meanwhile scheduled to be connected
to the grid in May 2019.
EDF marked its biggest milestone for
EPR technology on June 28, as China
General Nuclear Power Group connected
the first unit at the Taishan nuclear plant
(Figure 3) west of Hong Kong to the grid.
The plant is expected to enter commercial
operation later this year. Unit 1, whose
construction began in 2009, has an installed
capacity of 1,660 MW. According
to Framatome Chairman and CEO Bernard
Fontana, successful
Taishan 1 was a historical moment for
the company and the whole nuclear industry.
" We also remain fully engaged in
the completion and startup of Taishan 2,
Flamanville 3, and Olkiluoto 3, and in the
delivery of Hinkley Point C in the United
Kingdom. All current and future EPR projects
will also benefit from the broad experience
acquired by our teams, " he said.
Completion of Jaitapur would be an
even bigger accomplishment. As planned,
it is slated to be the world's largest nuclear
power plant. According to EDF, the
project would be a huge boost both for
EPR technology and Franco-Indian civil
nuclear initiatives, which have gained
ground since 2010, when France and India
signed bilateral agreements. For India,
which has 22 operating nuclear reactors-
a total of 6,219 MW-the project would
substantially expand its nuclear capacity.
The country is currently building six reactors
totaling 4,350 MW, including a prototype
fast breeder reactor and a Russian
VVER at Kudankulam. Within the next few
years, the country plans to embark on 19
other units, at least 10 of which will be
indigenously designed PHWRs.
-Sonal Patel is a POWER
associate editor.
Grid-Scale Liquid Air
Energy Storage Plant Is
Launched
The world's first grid-scale demonstration
of a liquid air energy storage (LAES) plant
was officially launched in June.
UK-based long-duration
energy
storage
firm Highview Power developed the
5-MW/15-MWh project in partnership with
recycling and renewable energy company
Viridor with more than £8 million in funding
from the UK government. The plant located
at the Pilsworth landfill gas site in
Bury, near Manchester, in the UK (Figure
4), works by using surplus power (during
off-peak hours) to refrigerate air into a liquid
at -196C (-320F). The liquid air is then
14
4. Liquid air energy storage. This April, Highview Power began operating its Pilsworth
Grid-Scale Demonstrator Plant at the Pilsworth Landfill facility in Bury, Greater Manchester, to
demonstrate how liquid air energy storage (LAES) can provide a number of balancing services.
The LAES plant also converts low-grade waste heat from the facility's GE Jenbacher landfill gas
engines to power. Courtesy: Highview Power
grid connection of
stored " very efficiently " in insulated tanks
at low pressure. When power is required,
liquid air is drawn from the tanks. Exposure
to ambient temperatures causes rapid
re-gasification and a 700-fold expansion in
volume, which is then used to drive a turbine
and create electricity without combustion.
" Heat harnessed from the liquefaction
process is applied to the liquid air via heat
exchangers and an intermediate heat transfer
fluid. This produces a high-pressure gas
in the form of air that is then used to drive
the turbine and create electricity, " Highview
Power explained.
The company says the technology
draws from established processes from
the turbo-machinery, power generation
and industrial gas sectors. Components
used in the processes " can be readily
sourced from large OEMs [original equipment
manufacturers] and have proven
operating lifetimes and performances, "
it said. The technology doesn't depend
on " exotic materials " like battery storage
and is comprised mostly of steel, giving
it a lifespan of between 30 and 40 years,
in comparison with 10 years for batteries.
At the end of its life, an LAES plant
can be decommissioned, and the steel
can be recycled. And because the system
uses a thermodynamic cycle, it can interface
with co-located thermal processes
such as liquefied natural gas regasification
plants, peaking plants, and industrial
applications. " This means we can
utilize waste heat and cold streams, improving
the efficiency of our customers'
main processes by converting their waste
thermal energy into a useful resource for
our system, " it said.
www.powermag.com
According to Gareth Brett, Highview
Power's vice chairman (and CEO of the
company for 10 years before Dr. Javier
Cavada Camino took on that role on
June 28), completion of the grid-scale
plant is a major milestone in demonstration
of " the only large scale, true
long-duration, locatable energy storage
technology available today, at acceptable
cost. " The project was preceded by
a 350-kW/2.5-MWh pilot installation at
SSE's biomass plant at Slough Heat and
Power in Greater London. The pilot underwent
full testing between 2011 and
2014, before it was relocated to the University
of Birmingham Center for Cryogenic
Energy Storage to support further
testing and academic research.
At the Bury plant, where demand response
aggregator KiWi Power draws energy-and
generates revenue-to power
5,000
average-sized homes
for
around
three hours, Highview Power will demonstrate
how LAES can provide reserve, gridbalancing,
and regulation services.
Yet, the opportunity is far greater, Brett
noted. LAES technology can scale to hundreds
of MWs in line with energy demand
of large cities. " The market opportunity
for LAES technology is exciting-we estimate
that 60% of the global energy
storage market comprises long-duration,
grid-connected storage and that our LAES
technology is ready to meet almost half of
this (45%), " said Brett.
Brett added that " utilities from around
the world " have been assessing Highview
Power's solution. " We are therefore already
in detailed negotiations to build plants
ten times the size of this one for utility
POWER | August 2018

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POWER August 2018

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