Hundreds of UK hills could be used for renewable energy storage
British company believes technology could provide low-cost solution for UK's energy needs
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Your support makes all the difference.Hundreds of hills across the UK could be used for renewable energy through a long-life hydro-powered energy storage system pioneered by British engineers.
The British company RheEnergise has said it has invented a low-cost, energy-efficient and environmentally friendly system for storing energy by adapting one of the oldest forms of storage, hydropower, to store and release electricity from small hills.
It claims this could allow many more sites to be used for storage projects across the UK as the steep dam walls and mountains required for conventional hydropower systems are not needed.
The company aims to have its first commercial system operating in 2024, with more than 100 within the next decade, and has raised more than £500,000 through crowdfunding.
The hillside projects will act in a similar way to traditional hydropower plants but will use a mineral-rich fluid which is 2.5 times denser than water and can provide 2.5 times the power and energy compared to conventional systems operating in the Scottish Highlands and Wales.
Last month, RheEnergise’s chief executive Stephen Crosher said the technology opened up a “massive amount of opportunity” and could offer a low-cost solution to meet the UK’s energy storage needs.
“Flexible technologies like HD Hydro will form part of the UK’s smart electricity grid, supporting the integration of more low-carbon power, heat and transport technologies, which BEIS estimates could save the UK energy system up to £40bn by 2050,” Mr Crosher said.
However, he added that “stringent environment assessments” would be needed for projects as not all hillside locations would be suitable for use.
The company’s own analysis has suggested that there could be about 9,500 site opportunities in the UK, alongside about 80,000 in Europe and 160,000 in Africa.
RheEnergise has also received support from the government through the Innovate UK agency, which has part-funded its research and development work with eight grants totalling £550,000 and an on-going grant of £135,000.
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