Highview bets liquid air wins long-duration storage; world-first 300MWh plant under way

Highview Power builds liquid air energy storage (LAES) plants: surplus electricity compresses and cools air into cryogenic liquid, which later expands through a turbine to generate power for hours, providing long-duration storage and grid stability services.

Renewables need long-duration storage; liquid air lasts 40–50 years without degrading and beats lithium on duration — build the first commercial LAES plant to prove it.

£300M raised in June 2024 from the UK Infrastructure Bank, Centrica and a syndicate of financial investors; total investment reached £377M including £70M from Centrica, plus over £2M of UKRI/Innovate UK grants since a 2012 proof-of-market study.

Highview Power spent years developing liquid air energy storage with UK public support, starting with a proof-of-market study funded by Innovate UK in 2012 and more than £2M of UKRI investments since. The idea: use surplus wind and solar electricity to compress and cool air into a pale blue cryogenic liquid, store it in low-pressure tanks, then apply ambient or waste heat so the expanding gas drives a turbine and generates electricity for hours, with a system life of 40–50 years and no degradation.

On 13 June 2024 Highview announced a £300M investment from the UK Infrastructure Bank, Centrica and a syndicate to build its first commercial-scale plant, taking total investment to £377M including £70M from Centrica. Construction began at Carlton Power's Trafford Low Carbon Energy Park in Carrington, near Manchester: 300MWh of storage at 50MW output for six hours, enough to supply around 480,000 homes, co-located with planned green hydrogen and battery schemes. On 21 November 2025 the official groundbreaking was marked by Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham, positioning the plant as the first development on the park and the world's largest commercial-scale LAES facility.

Still under construction: Carrington is expected to enter operation in 2026, and Highview is planning a 2.5GWh plant at Hunterston, Scotland — an eight-fold increase on Carrington, powering 650,000 homes for 12.5 hours — plus projects in Australia and Japan.

Liquid air is built from ubiquitous, cheap materials and degrades little over 40–50 years, attacking lithium-ion's weakness on multi-hour duration.

Phasing the plant as a stability island first gave a first-of-a-kind project revenue from grid services before energy storage income existed.

Blending the UK Infrastructure Bank, Centrica and private financial investors spread the first-commercial-plant risk across parties who each had a reason to see it work.

Building on a low-carbon energy park alongside hydrogen and battery projects let Highview piggyback on shared grid and planning infrastructure.

The hardest problem for first-of-a-kind energy is who pays for the first one: a state infrastructure bank plus a utility plus project finance turned a decade of pilots into a commercial plant.

As of 2026-09-02 Highview Power is constructing the 300MWh Carrington plant, expected to enter operation in 2026, with construction support from Spencer Group on the £23M civil works contract. The two-stage Hunterston project in Scotland is the next phase, followed by projects in Australia and Japan; the first stage at Hunterston is the grid connection and stability works, with the full LAES build-out after planning. Public sources do not disclose revenue, so the commercial performance of the Carrington plant itself is not yet knowable.