Japanese Machinery Giant Bets on Using Super-Cold Air to Store Power
Japanese Machinery Giant Bets on Using Super-Cold Air to Store Power
(Bloomberg) -- Sumitomo Heavy Industries Ltd. sees a future in super-cold air.
The Tokyo-based industrial machinery giant invested $46 million in Highview Power, which stores electricity by cooling air to minus 321 Fahrenheit (minus 196 Celsius) and then powering turbines with it as it warms and expands.
The investment gives Sumitomo a 14% stake in closely held Highview Power, valuing it at about $330 million. Two Sumitomo executives will join the startup’s board.
Highview’s technology is among several techniques emerging to store electricity on a scale big enough to help utilities move toward using wind and solar around the clock. The challenge is Highview’s systems haven’t been tested on a mass scale, making them difficult to finance. Backing from Sumitomo may help ease that.
“We want to build wherever there is a high concentration of renewables,” Highview Chief Executive Officer Javier Cavada said in an interview. “This equity investment gives us the muscle.”
Read More: First Plant Turning Liquid Air Into Power Opens in England
Highview Power has spent more than a decade developing its cryogenic energy storage systems, which turn air so cold that it liquefies. The idea is similar to existing energy storage systems that compress air rather than cool it but requires far less space.
On mid-2018, the company connected a demonstration plant in northern England. It is proposing other projects in Vermont, Texas, California and elsewhere in the U.K. Highview’s systems can store up to 200 megawatts for 10 hours.
To contact the reporter on this story: Christopher Martin in New York at cmartin11@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Joe Ryan at jryan173@bloomberg.net, David R. Baker
©2020 Bloomberg L.P.