Published: 10 Dec 2020, 11:39 By: Alice Grundy Design for a 5-hour duration liquid air 'CRYOBattery' by UK company Highview Power. The University of Birmingham roadmap argues that the UK will need long-duration and seasonal as well as thermal load shifting energy storage in the coming years. Image: Highview Power. The UK needs “robust energy storage technologies and clear strategies for implementing them,” to accelerate the transition towards decarbonisation, the lead author of a new roadmap detailing the role of energy storage technologies in the country over the next 10-15 years has said. The roadmap has been launched by researchers at the University of Birmingham, England. There is a “well-defined need” for measures that provide energy system reliability and resilience, the report stated, with the challenges set to shift through the 2020s to the provision of gigawatt-scale capacity, to cover days of demand for electricity and then to weeks and months of terawatt-scale demand for heat.