A forgotten technology is about to make a comeback. In 2026, the world’s first liquid air energy storage facility will begin operation in England. The project aims to compete with large lithium batteries and hydro plants to store renewable energy and cut dependence on fossil fuels.
As renewable electricity grows worldwide and overtakes coal for the first time, storing power efficiently has become critical. When the wind stops blowing or the Sun sets, grids need backup. Many turn to lithium batteries or pumped hydro, but a growing group of innovators believes in another answer: air-based batteries.
Building the first plant in England
Near the village of Carrington in north-west England, construction crews are laying the groundwork for the first commercial-scale liquid air energy storage plant. The site will host rows of industrial machinery and large tanks filled with compressed, supercooled air turned into liquid. Surplus renewable energy will power this process. Later, when demand rises, the liquid air will be warmed, expanded, and converted back into electricity.
If the project succeeds, more plants will follow. Developer Highview Power is betting that liquid air energy storage can help nations shift faster from fossil fuels to clean power. The challenge remains its high cost, but the company believes growing demand for energy storage will soon make it competitive.
The intermittency challenge
Renewable power is vital to cut greenhouse gases, yet it challenges electricity grids. Fossil fuel plants can be turned on and off easily, but wind and solar depend on weather. This can cause shortages when the weather is calm and oversupply during storms. Both extremes threaten grid stability.
Storing excess power solves these problems. It ensures steady supply and protects the grid from overload. As renewable generation expands, large-scale storage becomes essential, says Shaylin Cetegen, a chemical engineer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who studies energy systems.
For decades, pumped hydro has dominated storage. It uses extra electricity to pump water uphill, storing energy as potential power. When needed, the water flows down through turbines to generate electricity. In 2021, pumped hydro supplied 160 gigawatts of global storage capacity.
Battery systems now follow fast. According to the International Energy Agency, grid-scale battery capacity jumped from 1GW in 2013 to over 80GW in 2023, with 40GW added that year alone.
How liquid air stores energy
Liquid air energy storage may soon join these giants. The idea dates back to 1977 but drew little attention until recently. The process has three stages. First, air is drawn in and cleaned. Then it is compressed at high pressure. Finally, the air is cooled until it becomes liquid using a heat exchanger that transfers heat between substances flowing at different temperatures.
“The grid supplies the power for this charging process,” says Cetegen. When demand rises, the stored liquid air is pumped out, warmed, and expanded into gas. The gas drives turbines to produce electricity. Once used, the air returns harmlessly to the atmosphere.
The system includes clever heat recovery steps. Compressing air generates heat, which can later warm the liquid air during discharge. “Without these cycles, efficiency reaches about 50%, but with thermal recovery, it climbs to over 60% and can reach 70%,” says Cetegen.
The goal now is to scale this technology fast enough to accelerate the green transition.
Manchester’s pioneering plant
The Carrington facility near Manchester marks the first full-scale commercial attempt. Highview Power, developing this technology for two decades, tested it at a smaller site in Pilsbury. The new plant will store 300 megawatt-hours of electricity—enough to power 480,000 homes briefly during shortages.
The project will open in two stages, explains chief executive Richard Butland. In August 2026, the turbine will begin operation to stabilise the grid rather than generate power. Currently, grid operators often use gas plants to maintain stability—a costly and carbon-heavy practice. “We can stop them doing that,” Butland says.
In 2027, the plant will start full operation, selling electricity to the grid when demand peaks.
Economic hurdles and potential support
Energy storage is vital but expensive. Cetegen’s recent study examined liquid air storage in 18 US regions under different renewable scenarios. The research compared profitability over 40 years by simulating how often the systems would buy and sell electricity.
Only under the most ambitious renewable plans did the systems prove viable—in Florida and Texas. “We didn’t find viable systems elsewhere,” says Cetegen. Still, she stresses this isn’t a failure. The study used conservative assumptions, and other storage forms like batteries and hydro looked even less profitable.
Early on, storage plants don’t make much money because renewables haven’t yet created enough price swings. “The system wasn’t being used much in the early years,” she explains. Governments could help by subsidising startup costs to achieve early viability. Faster renewable expansion would also boost profitability.
Global ambitions
Highview Power remains optimistic. “Manchester will make very good returns,” says Butland. The company benefits from a UK government “cap and floor” policy guaranteeing minimum investor returns. “It gives confidence without costing the government money,” he says, adding that each project is expected to earn more than the guaranteed minimum.
Highview plans two more UK plants and new ones in Japan and Australia. The upcoming Scottish site will store 2.5 gigawatt-hours—almost ten times Carrington’s capacity. Scaling up is straightforward because storage tanks are cheap even if compressors and coolers are costly.
Cetegen notes another advantage: price. The “levelised cost of storage,” a key industry measure, can be as low as $45 per megawatt-hour for liquid air. That compares to $120 for pumped hydro and $175 for lithium-ion batteries.
Looking ahead
Liquid air could soon join hydro and batteries in the global energy mix. Pumped hydro lasts for decades but depends on geography. Batteries can go anywhere but degrade within ten years. Liquid air offers longer storage with low losses and fewer limits.
As countries rebuild their electricity grids for the green transition, adaptable storage will be vital. “We’re rebuilding all grids globally based on new generation,” says Butland. Liquid air may soon play a central role in that transformation.
