LAES technology (Liquid Air Energy Storage), stores energy by compressing and cooling air to a liquid state, allowing large amounts of air (and therefore energy) to be stored in a small space.

To recover the energy, it is followed in a reverse process, heating until the air evaporates and finally decompressing it in a turbine to generate electricity.

The process begins with the compression of atmospheric air. Due to the compression, the air is heated up to 400 ºC and that heat is carried through an exchanger and stored in molten salt tanks for later use. This is what is called the “heat store”. Then, in the liquefaction process, the air is cooled down to a temperature around -160 ºC. To extract the heat, another fluid is used, which is also stored in a tank for later use, known as the “cold store”. Once in a liquid state, the air is stored in tanks until it is time to recover the energy. To recover the electricity, the liquid air is passed through a series of exchangers, first with the fluid of the “cold store” for its evaporation and later with the “heat store” to return to a temperature around 400 ºC. Once at high pressure and high temperature, the air is expanded in a gas turbine to produce electricity.