The UK is building a national centre to develop the next generation of materials for energy storage—the batteries, supercapacitors, and thermoelectric devices that will link renewable power generation to real-world use. This matters because the UK has strong materials science but a fragmented approach to energy storage. Historically, research has focused separately on generation (wind turbines, solar panels) and end uses (electric vehicles), leaving the critical middle step—storing that energy so it can be used when the sun isn't shining or the wind isn't blowing—underdeveloped. Without better storage, decarbonising the electricity grid and meeting UK CO₂ targets becomes far harder. If successful, this equipment hub will accelerate the development of more efficient, longer-lasting batteries and related devices. That could make electric vehicles more practical, smooth out the intermittency of renewables on the national grid, and help the UK become a global leader in battery technology—a market GE has described as set to transform the utilities business within decades. The work is applied materials science, focused on electrochemical storage and thermoelectric/piezoelectric devices, with direct routes to industrial deployment.
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Energy storage (ES) is at the heart of the energy trilemma for clean, secure, and cost effective supply. The UK is strong in advanced materials engineering combined with unique geographical opportunities for sustainable energy storage. Technology integration and strategic deployment are essential for the UK to be world leading and to exploit material technology globally. According to GE: "the development of energy storage technology is going to be one of the defining features of the 21st centuries energy landscape....it is going to be a huge market and is going to render the utilities business unrecognisable within a few decades". Fundamentally, the most critical and enabling aspect of energy storage devices are the materials from which they are made. For example, in lithium ion batteries, the anode, cathode, separator, electrolyte and current collectors are all highly optimised and compatible materials that are integrated at large scale ~5 B Li ion cells in 2016) using bespoke manufacturing expertise. Energy storage is a key enabler for clean transport and completes the renewable energy cycle. From a historical perspective, there has been a disparate and 'polarised' approach to renewable energy generation and use - the focus has been on the two 'extremes': on one side, generation (e.g. wind turbines, solar PV) and on the other side, end uses and applications (e.g. electric vehicles). However, the bridge to connect these into a working system is energy storage. Both mobile and stationary energy storage offer significant potential for the UK; on the other hand, without energy storage it will be difficult to decarbonise the electricity grid and achieve the UK targets for CO2 mitigation. The importance of ES was highlighted in the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy green paper Building our Industrial Strategy in January 2017 that stated "Given the UK's underlying strengths in science and energy technology, we want to be a global leader in battery technology." ES comprises a wide variety of technologies, all particularly dependent on advances in materials science. Resources need to be carefully allocated on selected technologies in order to achieve the world leading status. Following Oxford-led stakeholder meetings, workshops and discussion, the Royce ES theme will focus on (i) electrochemical energy storage technologies such as batteries, supercapacitors and flow cells and (ii) thermoelectric and piezoelectric devices.
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