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New Energy World™
New Energy World™ embraces the whole energy industry as it connects and converges to address the decarbonisation challenge. It covers progress being made across the industry, from the dynamics under way to reduce emissions in oil and gas, through improvements to the efficiency of energy conversion and use, to cutting-edge initiatives in renewable and low-carbon technologies.
Hot rocks could increase duration of thermal storage solutions
31/1/2024
8 min read
Feature
Thermal energy storage (TES) can play a key role in decarbonising hard-to-abate industry sectors – those that, typically, depend upon high temperature heat. New Energy World Features Editor Brian Davis looks at its potential.
The International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates that ‘hard-to-abate’ sectors account for about a quarter of global CO2 emissions. However, new developments in TES could be used for decarbonising heavy industries where there is a need to use high temperatures – over 1,000°C, replacing fossil fuels such as natural gas and coal. What’s more, lower temperature heat storage could be used for applications such as paper and glass production, as well as in district heating.
TES systems can utilise renewable power from wind and solar farms, for example, at lower cost than fossil fuels, and store the heat using a range of materials with good thermal properties.
‘This is not a new concept,’ explains Selene Law, Senior Associate, Energy & Power at the Cleantech Group. ‘Systems of concentrated solar power which radiate heat to a receiver that uses molten salts [as a heat transfer fluid] have existed for decades to transport and store electricity.’ Currently, about 6.8 GW of molten salt capacity is installed worldwide, according to Universal Data Solutions, and the global molten salt TES market is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of about 6% during this decade.