A tech boost for renewable energy

DPA

Renewable energy is seen as the solution to much of the world’s environmental problems with the German government, for example, looking to have virtually all its energy requirements sourced in this way by the year 2050.
A major problem with renewable energy sources, however, is the reliability of supply as renewable energy often relies on the weather for its source of power. Hydro generators need rain to fill dams to supply flowing water, wind turbines require wind to turn the blades, and solar collectors need sunshine to generate heat and make electricity.
To date, it has been very difficult to store excess energy so that it can be used when needed by the consumer. “We have found a solution: the missing link that allows us to make make renewable energy more economical in the future,” says Christian Thiel, head of the Norwegian start-up company EnergyNest.
Strong words for a company that has only been in existence for five years and has just 12 employees. The Norwegian start-up is so confident because it has developed an innovative thermal energy storage system that will make it possible to store large quantities of energy at unprecedented low cost.
The technology has been commercially validated by the Norwegian certification body DNV and offers huge potential when it comes to solving global energy challenges.
Developed by company co-founder Pal G. Bergan in cooperation with German company HeidelbergCement, the core of the new storage system is a special concrete mixture that can store large quantities of thermal energy over long periods of time with virtually no performance degradation.
The technology can also involve a high degree of local content, as most materials required for the assembly can be sourced locally. The system can handle both thermal oil and steam as a heat transfer fluid, and can operate within a very broad range of temperatures.
“Storage is expensive when dealing with large amounts of energy,” says Thiel. “Our technology is simple and inexpensive, costing at most a third of the price of a conventional battery.” One module costs in the region of 50,000 euros and last November EnergyNest launched a pilot project in Masdar city in Abu Dhabi, storing energy from the “Beam-down” solar power plant in Masdar City.
The technology works in principle, according to DNV. Apart from being able to store energy for long periods of time, Thiel points to other advantages of the technology such as the fact that the modules are assembled using environmentally friendly materials and that it can be produced in the locations where it is required.
The modules are also low maintenance and have a working life of at least fifty years. Investors from Great Britain, the United States and Norway have contributed around nine million dollars in the project to date with a further two million coming from public funds. The next step is to use the technology on a commercial level. “The potential is there and the market is enormous,” believes Thiel.