The Supergen Energy Storage Network+ launched on the 2nd December 2020 in a dedicated event a Research and Innovation Roadmap for Energy Storage that assesses the potential role of energy storage in the UK’s future energy system and identifies the contribution of research and innovation to meeting the challenges. The University of Birmingham issued a press release about the launch event and the Roadmap, which you can view here.

This roadmap was prepared by Daniel Murrant, Jonathan Radcliffe, and Amruta Joshi, from the Energy Systems and Policy Analysis Group, University of Birmingham, also with the previous support from Energy SUPERSTORE through grant EP/L019469/1.

Lead author, Dr Jonathan Radcliffe, of the Energy Systems and Policy Analysis Group at the University of Birmingham, says: “Energy storage will play a critical role as we continue to integrate low-carbon energy systems. In order to accelerate this transition, we need robust energy storage technologies and clear strategies for implementing them. This roadmap will be important for prioritising and guiding current and future activities.”

Professor David Elmes of Warwick Business School, who chaired the roadmap’s launch webinar, said: “It’s great to see that the Energy Storage Research & Innovation Roadmap looks at electricity and heat together. The seasonal demand for heat greatly exceeds the UK’s current electricity demand.  A roadmap that covers multiple uses of energy is essential – heating, cooling, our current uses of electricity and also the rising demand as we electrify transport through EVs.”

Mr Philip Sharman, Director at Evenlode Associates and panellist at the Roadmap launch event said: “It is important that, alongside the government’s ‘10-point plan’ and upcoming Energy White Paper, we have clear roadmaps that guide us on what R&D and innovation is needed.  This one, on the crucial and integrating area of energy storage, is particularly needed at this time.”

Dr Alexandra Gormally of Lancaster University, said: “Given the huge challenges and opportunities we face as we transition to Net zero, this Roadmap couldn’t be more timely. Energy storage will be a fundamental part of our new energy future and this Roadmap will help guide us in our transition”

Professor Dan Gladwin of the University of Sheffield, said: “Over a third of the electrical energy in our homes is now supplied from renewable sources, and with increasing electrification of transport, more energy storage is needed. Whilst we have some storage solutions today to solve our short-term needs, the type of storage we need will evolve rapidly. This roadmap is important in that it details the requirements and actions needed to meet our storage needs to enable us to transition to a low-carbon future.”

Dr Alex Buckman, Practice Manager Networks and Energy Storage, Energy Systems Catapult, said: “The deployment of low carbon technologies needed by 2050 to meet net zero will require a significantly increased use of energy storage technologies across all vectors and durations. The recommendations made in this roadmap support this uptake through a series of realisable steps, accounting for both near term challenges and long term energy system transformation.”

If you couldn’t make it or if you want to see the event again, you can view the recording here.

We are pleased to say that the Roadmap document is now live and we invite you to view it online here.