EnergyPathways has announced the start of the detailed engineering phase (FEED) for his megaproject MESH CAES in the Irish Sea, backed by a financing agreement 15 million pounds sterling. This is the world’s largest compressed air storage system and the UK’s largest long-duration storage (LDES) project.
The project has the technological backing of Siemens Energy, whose participation has allowed the technical and economic viability of the system to be validated.
The “energy lung” of the network
CAES is a mass energy storage technology which works like a “giant battery” that, instead of using chemicals, uses compressed air inside enormous underground caverns.
Its operation is similar to that of pumped-storage hydroelectric plants, but with air instead of water:
- It loads during periods of low demand, the surplus electricity is used to power powerful compressors that inject high-pressure air into enormous natural underground cavities; in this case, large salt caves marina. Essentially, it’s as if electricity were “transformed” into the potential energy of a pressurized gas.
- It downloads when the demand for electricity is high, that compressed air is released, heated, and expanded to spin a turbine, which in turn generates electricity that is fed back into the electrical grid.
The great advantage of CAES over conventional batteries is its capacity of store energy for very long periods (days or even weeks) and its enormous size on a network scale.
The MESH CAES project: dimensions and characteristics
The installation of the project MESH CAES will have colossal dimensions and will offer essential services for the stability of the UK network:
| Feature | Given | Explanation |
| Power | 300 MW | It is the instantaneous generation capacity, that is, how much electricity it can deliver at any given moment. |
| Energy capacity | 55,2 GWh | It is the total stored energy (how long it can maintain production). |
| Autonomy | > 7 days | It can supply electricity continuously for more than a week without needing to be recharged. |
The integrated MESH system: beyond CAES
He MESH project It is not just a compressed air storage system, but the central axis of a much larger energy complex that also includes:
- A sustainable industrial park on land, in Barrow-in-Furness, which will house the necessary surface facilities for the CAES, as well as low-carbon hydrogen and high-quality graphite production plants.
- A methane pyrolysis plant, for which EnergyPathways holds the exclusive rights in the United Kingdom, which will produce affordable, low-emission hydrogen and high-quality graphite as a by-product.
- A flexible, low-emission generation system, with a gas turbine prepared to run on hydrogen, which will allow for further decarbonization of electricity generation.
A step towards the decarbonization of the United Kingdom
The launch of FEED is a decisive step for this project, considered of national importance by the British government, to contribute to security of supply and to decarbonization of the electricity system. The installation is expected to be operational by the end of 2031, with the capacity to absorb the surpluses of offshore wind energy (billions of pounds currently being wasted) and release it in a manageable way during times of peak demand.
Source and photo: EnergyPathways