PTQ Gas 2022 Issue

latest industrial automation solu- tions, such as advanced process control and digital twins, energy storage facilities can partner with an expert system integrator. This can address the specific needs of the sector and is equipped to sup- port innovative processing meth- ods and technologies, delivering futureproof, scalable solutions that can grow with a business as well as advance it. Adigital twin of the first full-scale UK liquid air energy storage facility Highview Power, a specialist in long-duration energy storage solu- tions, is supporting the global adoption of advanced cryogenic plants with its proprietary liquid air energy storage technology. The company’s latest project is the con- struction of a 50 MW liquid air energy storage facility (with a min- imum of 250 MWh) in Carrington Village, Greater Manchester, UK. The plant will be able to power approximately 200 000 homes for six hours a day, and help balance the supply and demand for renewables. To ensure successful operations at the facility, the company is collab- orating closely with its automation and technology development part- ner, Optimal Industrial Automation. The automation system integra- tor has been supporting Highview Power since the creation of the cry- ogenic energy storage specialist’s first pre-commercial scale demon - stration plant at the Pilsworth Landfill facility in Bury, Greater Manchester. Since the automation requirements of this initial facility were unspecified, due to the unique nature of the technology, an auto- mation specialist that could ‘handle the unknown’ and deliver a flex - ible solution was a must. Having already developed a proven system to address these challenges, starting with the instrumentation require- ments and through to commis- sioning, Optimal was the obvious choice. For its latest, larger project in Carrington, Highview Power was keen for the automated system to feature a digital twin of the liquid air energy storage facility for use in training and for marketing demon-

strations. This would support the growth of good asset data, which is key to the continuous improvement of the process model and an increas- ingly detailed understanding. By doing so, the digital twin would ultimately support the optimisation of this and future plants as well as futureproofing energy storage oper - ations, in line with the company’s digital transformation strategy. To develop this solution, Optimal had to address a number of exacting requirements. Firstly, the team had to select heavy-duty instruments that could withstand the operating conditions at the liquid air energy storage plant. Secondly, it was essential to create an automated setup that would be extremely accurate and reliable in order to promptly identify and act upon any change in the key processing parameters, such as temperature and pressure, while maximising plant efficiency, performance, and safety. When looking at the parame- ters needed for the digital twin, it was necessary to enable it to inter- face with advanced mathematical models and simulation software platforms in addition to the physi- cal automation system. To address

this level of complexity, providing a solution that could support mul- tithreading and multiprocessing functions was crucial. To address these challenges, Optimal selected high-perfor- mance components featuring advanced redundancy, availability, fault-tolerance as well as maximum connectivity The automation system is now ready to support full operations at the Carrington facility. References 1 IEA, SDG7: Data and Projections. IEA. [Online] 2020. [Cited: 7 Mar 2022] www..iea. org/reports/sdg7-data-and-projections. 2 World Bank. Sustainable Energy for All (SE4ALL) database from the SE4ALL Global Tracking Framework led jointly by the World Bank, International Energy Agency and the Energy Sector Management Assistance Program. [Online] [Cited: 7 Mar 2022] https : //data.wor ldbank.org/indicator/ EG.FEC.RNEW.ZS?end=2018&start=2016&vie w=map. 3 Wang S X, Xue X D, Zhang X L, Guo J, Zhou Y, Wang J J, The Application of Cryogens in Liquid Fluid Energy Storage Systems, Physics Procedia , 67, 2015, 728-732.

Alan Messenger is Sales Director at Optimal Industrial Automation, with 30 years of experience in automation and control.

Highview Power’s automation and technology development partner, Optimal Industrial Automation, developed a digital twin of the world’s largest liquid air energy storage plant, in Carrington Village, Greater Manchester, UK

Gas 2022 15