'America's largest' energy storage plant to pioneer giant 'concrete batteries' with Biden cash boost
Westinghouse project will store excess energy to back up wind power at 1.2GWh facility in Alaska
Westinghouse Electric Company has won US government funding for a 1.2GWh pumped thermal project it is developing in Alaska that it says will be the largest energy storage facility in the US, supporting planned wind power.
The US Department of Energy (DOE) announced that it is handing out $325m to support 15 energy storage projects as part of Joe Biden’s 'Investing in America' agenda.
Applicants for the funding had to show how their projects would benefit issues like community engagement, American workers and advancing energy and environmental justice.
Perhaps the most eye-catching of those, in terms of size at least, is the 1.2GWh pumped thermal project that nuclear company Westinghouse has been developing in Alaska with Echogen Power Systems, a US company that specialises in converting waste heat into usable power.
The project will use a system in which a large-scale heat pump draws electricity from the grid and turns it into heat stored in concrete blocks. This stored energy is then converted back into electricity using a heat engine when needed.
The project is being developed to support planned wind power production.
Westinghouse says the system uses “readily available and inexpensive locally sourced materials, such as carbon steel, water and concrete, to enable rapid deployment anywhere around the globe.”
Patrick Fragman, Westinghouse president and CEO, said the Alaska plant will “showcase a ground-breaking technology.”
“Our long-duration energy storage system enables a higher penetration of renewables on the grid to achieve decarbonisation goals without sacrificing overall stability,” he said.