World-first green energy pilot

Researchers from Cardiff University are piloting a new system that uses ammonia as an energy storage solution. A £1.5m 'world-first' proof-of-concept demonstrator has been opened at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in Harwell, Oxfordshire to test the next-generation technology. Its aim is to create a brand new sustainable system that can generate and use power when required, whilst efficiently storing energy in the form of ammonia when the demand for, or price, of electricity is low. The project includes researchers from FLEXIS - a £24 million EU Regional Development Fund (ERDF) project designed to grow the energy systems research capability in Wales based on world-leading research across Welsh Universities. The Cardiff University researchers, based within Cardiff's Gas Turbine Research Centre (GTRC), are working alongside Siemens, Oxford University, the Science and Technology Facilities Council as part of an Innovate UK project to develop the technology. Dr Agustin Valera-Medina, Cardiff PI and Senior Lecturer in Cardiff University's School of Engineering said: "The proof-of-concept facility at Harwell will test whether ammonia could provide a practical, next-generation flexible system for energy storage, transportation and power generation. Energy can be released from ammonia either in the traditional way by combustion in an internal combustion or gas turbine engine, or by 'cracking' it back into nitrogen and hydrogen and using the hydrogen in a fuel cell - to power electric vehicles, for example.