Work has begun on a £300m energy plant which will store surplus electricity from wind and solar farms in the form of liquid air.
Energy compressed into air, liquified and then cryogenically frozen can be held at the plant for several weeks, which is longer than battery storage.
The facility at Carrington near Manchester, designed by Highview Power, will create more than 700 jobs in the north-west of England, the firm said.
The energy stored at the site, which is expected to be operational by 2028, will then be put back into the grid at times of high demand.
Highview Power’s co-founder Richard Butland said this kind of long-term clean energy storage was “huge for Britain and huge globally”.
