Monday 19 January 2026 10:00am to 4:00pm
Online
About
Speakers Confirmed
- Prof. Seamus Garvey : University of Nottingham (UK)
- Prof. John Loughhead : University of Birmingham (UK)
- Mr. Mark Howitt : Cleanergi (UK)
- Dr. Benjamin Lehner : Dutch Marine Energy Centre (NL)
- Dr. Abhishek Somani : PNNL (USA)
- Dr. Susanne Nies : Helmholtz-Berlin (DE)
Why MDES faces particular challenges:
● MDES is sandwiched between the timespans that can be handled best by batteries (SDES) and those (LDES) that can be handled best by fuels such as hydrogen, ammonia etc.. The SDES and LDES technologies have other markets to fund developments but MDES does not have any markets outside of electricity grid support
● Most of the MDES technologies[1] depend on large-scale unit commitments in both cost and performance. This is unlike batteries and electrolysers where a collection of many small units is the logical way to produce a large unit.
● Most of the MDES technologies have relatively high capital costs but very long natural lives. They need both “patient capital” and long-term policy certainty. They are not generally suited to short investment horizons.
● The MDES technologies tend also to have long lead times. Again, this calls for long-term policy certainty. It also militates against new plant being built in response to contractual commitments that are not much longer than the system lead times.
● The main requirements for MDES participation in grids arrive relatively late in terms of penetration levels of renewable energy generation - long after battery systems have become very established to cater with short-term imbalances associated with low. Said battery systems “hoover-up” some of the services that MDES systems could have used to achieve commercial viability.
● Most of the MDES technologies actually provide numerous services that are not provided by other storage types and so have a more complex “value-stack” than other ES types. This is a particularly marked instance of a problem that affects all ES developments which is that it is difficult to reward the service provider proportionately to the value of the services that they deliver.
Questions that might be relevant:
● Does MDES actually warrant any attention - in view of the potential availability of interconnection - especially the SuperGrid?
● What initiatives are being undertaken already in places around the world to help to nurture the development of MDES ?
● Are there already examples of where MDES services are being assumed to be catered for by LDES technology solutions (systems capable of discharging continuously for 200 hrs or more) ?
● Energy storage generally (and especially MDES and LDES) coupled with renewables bring the prospect of complete energy self-sufficiency to different countries. Is there a way to attach value to the reassurance that energy costs will never rise suddenly and dramatically (as happened in late 2021 with Russia then threatening to invade Ukraine)?
How could policy and markets possibly be modified to help:
● Embrace the recognition that energy storage is no less essential to energy decarbonisation than wind turbines or PV panels or other forms of low-carbon generation. If strategic instruments have been necessary to cultivate the low-carbon generation space, then suitable instruments should also be developed to cultivate the ES space. Not doing this will cause a very sub-optimal bias towards the shorter-term and towards “less-risky” solutions that will not play a strong role in future energy systems having high penetrations of renewables. Any new strategic instruments introduced should have a definite and long associated timescale with clear intention that they will be withdrawn in the fullness of time.
● One or more governments could (either individually or jointly) commission some open machine designs for major MDES machinery or components (especially compressors, expanders, thermal storage units etc.) so that the major machine design overhead could be removed from individual projects. Manufacturing costings should be included in the design pack.
● In multiple regions where MDES will make early contributions, the local TSO could potentially produce a technology-independent software tool that would enable storage technology developers to make realistic assessments of what returns they might expect in the future if their technology reached certain performance levels. Many MDES developers are presently duplicating work done by other developers that might get done very well just once.
● Provide open datasets indicating where MDES solutions could provide strong value in deferring (or obviating the need for) grid upgrades that are technology independent. TSOs might be required to open tenders for MDES systems in parallel with tenders for grid upgrades and might be required to adopt the most cost-effective solutions for the energy consumer.
● Develop (AI-based?) tools providing unbiased indicators of how specific (MDES-relevant) technologies are likely to evolve in terms of cost and performance in the future with evolving time and volumes of production. Such tools might be the outcome of one or more government-funded research programmes.
● Modify existing financial instruments used for strategic investments into renewables such that they support MDES (and ES generally) in a proportionate way. The CfDs are a specific case in point where storage could be given a more specific opportunity to add value.
● Implement mandates for certain minimum quantities of MDES storage. Then bidders would compete only against other MDES technology providers. These mandates might include values for input power, output power, storage capacity, self-discharge rate, fault current capability, inertia properties and more.
● Publish open time-series data for expected future electricity supply and demand trajectories so that interested parties can model the contributions that would be made to national system balancing.
[1] Strictly, “MDES” describes a set of discharge duration times and any energy storage technology can potentially deliver these services. However some technologies are especially well-suited to addressing these and we will refer to these as “MDES technologies” for brevity.
For background study:
Several meetings have already taken place discussing MDES solutions as a distinct class of energy storage solutions. Links for three meetings addressing MDES technologies and general issues are here:
https://www.era.ac.uk/events/MDES2020 (March 23, 2020)
https://www.era.ac.uk/events/MDES2022 (March 16, 2022)
https://www.era.ac.uk/events/MDES2024 (Jan 12, 2024)
There has also been one previous meeting addressing policy issues for energy storage in general (not just MDES) and that is captured here:
https://www.era.ac.uk/event/energy-storage-policy-masterclass/ (March 21, 2023)