FLASC has reached a new technology development milestone.
FLASC Hydro-Pneumatic Energy Storage Solution is based on an advanced hydro-pneumatic liquid piston concept where electricity is stored by pumping a liquid to compress a volume of air.
We moved from the Close-Gas Cycle to Open-Gas Cycle, which brings three main technical advantages:
1. No more seawater inside the system
2. Significantly increased energy density
3. Use of efficient positive-displacement pumps.
The animation below illustrates the working principle.
↗ Charging Mode: a motor and hydraulic pump drive a reciprocating liquid piston array to compress air into a pre-charged container.
↙ Discharging Mode: the air expands through the reciprocating liquid pistons which drive the hydraulic system in reverse to produce electricity.
Using a patented pre-charging concept, and the marine environment itself as a natural heatsink, the compression process is optimised to achieve very high efficiencies, resulting in an offshore solution that is cost-competitive with land-based storage!
With a co-located FLASC system, offshore wind farms can become an active provider of grid flexibility when using energy storage. Recent studies show that FLASC solution utilising the Open-Gas Cycle can add 10-30% more value to the wind farm output by improving the way it is monetised.
Please, find more details on the Technology page on the website.