UK risks losing £4bn worth of cheap energy that could power millions of homes

But while Britain appears to be doing a job at ramping up its renewable energy capacity, there is a major flaw with the existing infrastructure that means it is not reaching its true potential.

The intermittent nature of renewables like wind energy means that during extended periods of high wind, it can generate excess amounts of power which, if is demand is low, will not be needed. There is then the potential for the extra energy to be stored and later used when demand is high.

But the problem is that currently, the UK does not have enough capacity to store this energy, which means it cannot be sent back into the grid and later to millions of homes when demand is high. According to Rupert Pearce, CEO of Highview Power, this means that billions of pounds worth of cheap energy is going to waste. 

He told Express.co.uk: “Today, because the electricity network is basically a hosepipe, whatever you put in has to come out the other end. If there isn’t a demand, you can’t stuff energy into the hosepipe, and the wind, unfortunately, doesn’t blow in accordance with demand.”

Article source: https://www.express.co.uk/news/science/1701483/uk-energy-storage-highview-power-cheap-national-grid