The SUSHEAT team photographed during the event. From left to right is Jerónimo Domingo from ANALISIS-DSC; Silvia Trevisan, KTH; Luisa Cabeza, Lleida University; Rafael Guedez, KTH; Emiliano Borri, Lleida University.
Energy solutions,storage needed for industry
Exploring and finding energy solutions to replace fossil fuels in manufacturing processes are critical to reach global decarbonisation strategies. Reliable, flexible and customisable heat delivery for industry can only be achieved through adequate thermal energy storage.
The organisers of the Eurotherm Seminar, the GREiA research team from the University of Lleida, are responsible for the design and optimisation of thermal energy storage solutions on SUSHEAT.
The Eurotherm announcement said the event was designed to “gather researchers and practitioners from academia and industry who are working in the rapidly expanding field of thermal energy storage (TES)”.
ANALISIS-DSC, presented SUSHEAT at Eurotherm in May, 2023, hosted by project partner Professor Luisa F. Cabeza and the GREiA team that specialises in energy and AI.
SUSHEAT partners, ANALISIS-DSC and i-TES, sponsored the event which was titled: “Innovative solutions for thermal energy storage deployment”.
SUSHEAT was presented in the European corner of Eurotherm by ANALISIS-DSC’s Jerónimo Domingo, who also explained an associated thermal energy project, ASTEP. Laura Torres from ANALISIS-DSC also attended the event.
SUSHEATTES system
On SUSHEAT, Cabeza’s team is integral to design a bio-inspired, highly efficient Thermal Energy Storage (TES) system using a Phase Change Material (PCM) that is adaptable to the target temperatures of the project’s thermal heat upgrade system.
The SUSHEAT concept integrates solar energy, ambient (as a reservoir) and industrial waste energy, which will be upgraded by an innovative High-Temperature Heat Pump (HTHP) working with helium and other low-global-impact-potential fluids, running in parallel with two novel bio-inspired Thermal Energy Storage (TES) tanks. The concept is completed with the smart Control & Integration Twin (CIT) system based on AI.
With a clever integration of all the thermal energy resources available, SUSHEAT plans to present a more cost-efficient, flexible, user-oriented, and reliable heat upgrade concept with a beyond-current-limits target heat delivery temperature, in the region of 150°–250°C.
IEA explains thermal energy storage
According to an IEA TES Fact Sheet, “thermal energy storage includes heat or cold produced with heat pumps from off-peak, low-cost electric power – a practice called peak shaving; heat from combined heat and power plants; heat produced from renewable electrical energy exceeding grid demand; and waste heat from industrial processes”.
“Heat and cold storage, both seasonal and short term, is considered an important means for cheaply balancing high shares of fluctuating renewable electricity production and for the integration of the electricity and heating sectors in energy systems almost or completely fed with renewable energy,” the Fact Sheet concludes.
Trendsin TES
The most recent trends in TES include novel storage materials; advanced storage concepts and configurations; TES for renewable energy systems; TES in buildings and industry; use of advanced techniques such as AI in TES; and social, environmental and educational aspects.