2018 got off to a flying start for IET Midlands Power Group when over 50 delegates attended an informative talk given by Dr Jonathan Radcliffe on the subject of Cryogenic Energy Storage.  Dr Radcliffe, a Senior Research Fellow at Birmingham University, outlined how the work being done at the university is contributing to the Birmingham:Energy Capital initiative and addressing the challenges of decarbonisation of heat and securing future electricity supply against a backdrop of reducing load factor generating plant (arising from the increasing contribution of renewables) and increasing demand (arising from policies to decarbonise transport).


Attendees were given an insight into the need for an increasingly flexible electricity supply environment and the potential contribution storage, including cryogenic storage, can make to achieving the desired security at an economic price.


Dr Radcliffe also described the work being done at Birmingham University on a pilot cryogenic energy store, describing how the installation is already reducing peak electricity demand on the campus and reducing the overall cost of energy supply.  The potential to scale up the technology to commercial levels and integrate waste heat into the cycle is already being developed and it is evident this will almost certainly become part of the 'new world' defacto norms for electricity supply in the future.


On behalf of the Midlands Power Group and all attendees at the talk, I would like to thank Dr Radcliffe for delivering a very informative talk and providing a copy of his slides which are available below.  We wish him and all the team at Birmingham University all the best in the development of this innovative technology and hope for an update at some time in the not too distant future.


David Swanson

Vice Chair, MPG