Potential applications for thermal energy storage

We provided a detailed analysis of the GB electricity market, providing insights into which markets will be best suited to a new thermal energy storage product.

The background

SynchroStor are developing an innovative long duration pumped thermal energy storage system. In April 2023 they won UK Government LODES funding (Longer Duration Energy Storage Demonstration) to demonstrate a megawatt-scale pilot at Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 6. Following this demonstration, SynchroStor will work with public and private stakeholders  to further develop and commercialise the technology.

What the client needed and their key question(s)

SynchroStor wanted to better understand what the use case is for their product and how this should feed into the commercialisation of their product going forward:

• Which markets are most applicable to the SynchroStor product?
• How much value is available in these different markets?
• How do they design their product to best capture the value available in these markets?

Our solution

LCP Delta provided an analysis on the different energy markets that SynchroStor could participate in the GB electricity market. The key markets focussed on were:

• Energy arbitrage: buying electricity at low prices and selling at higher prices.  
• Ancillary service and balancing markets: both National Grid ESO and DSO flexibility services.
• The co-location of their technology with onshore wind and solar generation: SynchroStor were interested in how this route to market could provide a faster connection to the electricity network.

This analysis leveraged LCP Delta’s deep knowledge of the British electricity market. This took advantage of our existing, in-house models by forecasting the expected volume of low carbon generation for 2030, 2035 and 2040. Additionally, we forecast the length and number of periods when low carbon generation would be in excess or shortfall. This allowed SynchroStor to determine the future opportunity for energy arbitrage.

Our impact

LCP Delta’s insights provided the necessary context for SynchroStor to successfully market any future energy-market based proposition going forward. By providing SynchroStor with an improved understanding of how their product will operate in real world scenarios in the future, we enabled their understanding of how to best optimise the initial design of their technology.