SCCER Heat and Electricty Storage Wärme und Strom Speicherung

Renata is a well established battery producer and supplier for primary and secondary batteries, mainly producing a broad product range of primary button cells in high volumes. But with swissness in the bones, flexibility in the muscles and in novation in the head, Renata is acting successfully as an interesting partner for system developers und design centres for electronic devices.Current developments of modern portable electronic devices tend to reduce the power consumption significantly to enhance the application for longer service life, or for more functions and/or smaller batteries. On the other hand new applications are coming into the market or new additional functions to already existing application are integrated, such as radio communication, data logging functions, displays, sensors, access restriction controls etc.One of the most critical parts in the development of these devices is the battery, as it will influence strongly the overall specifications for the use, the service time, the availability, weight and size of these applications ...(see book of abstracts for the complete text)

Following an outline of the motivation for heat storage in general and Switzerland in particular, the collaborators involved in the SCCER heat-storage research and development effort will be introduced. The objectives and current status of the projects on both low- and high-temperature heat storage will be described. Particular emphasis will be placed on explaining the relevance of the projects for the Energy Strategy 2050 and existing or potential industrial collaborations. The presentation will close with an outlook of future activities.

The storage of renewable energy is the greatest challenge for the transition from the fossil aera to a sustainable future energy economy. Hydrogen produced from renewable energy leads to a closed cycle, because the water released from the combustion condenses in the atmosphere. The challenge in the large scale application of H₂ is the storage with a high gravimetric and volumetric density. based on todays knowledge a hydrogen storage is limited to about 20 mass% and 70 kg/m³. Moreover the affordable and sustainable production of hydrogen using renewable energy faces challenges in off-grid and small-scale (distributed) application...(see book of abstracts for the complete text)

As the percentage of the traditional electrical grid power supplied by renewable sources such as wind and solar energy grows, energy storage solutions are required in order to maintain stable grid performance. These solutions have to provide both generation capacity for periods of low renewable generation or peak demand, and storage capacity for peak periods such as high wind periods and mid-day with low cloud cover. Specific areas of the world such as Germany and California are already requiring energy storage as part of new renewable installations based on these issues. Hydrogen from electrolysis is a promising technology for all of the above applications, also providing potential linkages between other infrastructures such as transportation to provide flexibility in the overall solution. Hydrogen has the capability to store massive amounts of energy in a relatively small volume, with no carbon footprint when generated from electrolysis of water and renewable energy. Electrolysis can also provide ancillary services (e.g., load shifting and frequency regulation) for grid stability, resulting in multiple value streams. The hydrogen produced can be injected into the natural gas pipeline, in the production of high value chemicals such as ammonia, in upgrading of biogas, or used as a transportation fuel. Europe in particular has been committed to these pathways and making heavy investment in both materials research and system design and development as well as technology demonstration. In Germany, hydrogen is looked upon as a key part of the energy storage solution under “Energiewende,” their national sustainable energy transition plan. Hydrogen provides a unique link between the electric and gas grid infrastructures (often referred to as “PtG= Power-to-Gas”). Proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolysis is attractive for hydrogen generation applications because of the lack of corrosive electrolytes, small footprint, and ability to generate at high hydrogen pressure, requiring only water and an energy source. The major market challenge for PEM competing directly with traditional liquid alkaline electrolysis technology has been product scale ...(see book of abstracts for the complete text.

In this presentation the research groups participating in the working group ‘Catalytic and Electrocatalytic CO₂ Reduction’ will be introduced with an emphasis on previous relevant research on CO₂ chemistry. The expertise and unique research tools that will be shared between the research groups will be highlighted.Collaborations with other groups on CO₂ chemistry that could contribute towards the success of the working group will also mentioned. Also, the synergies and parallels between the materials being developed for applications in the electrocatalytic conversion of CO₂ into fuels and the homogeneous/heterogeneous catalysts for CO₂ hydrogenation will be made. Finally some highlights of very recent research successes on the transformation of CO₂ into chemicals and fuels will be given.

Competencies on how to improve the flexibility between power, heat and fuel are essential for Switzerland’s energy turnaround. Focusing on this important concept, the team of Workpackage 5 ‘Technology Interaction of Storage Systems’ is building up common compentencies and cooperations. While countries like Germany have built up a profound know-how in future storage combinations and demands, Switzerland lacks such information. The team seeks to build up this competence in Switzerland. A comprehensive sustainability assessment has been started. It is based on the 3 traditional areas of sustainability assessment with a focus on cost and environmental indicators. The system analysis is conducted at the level of individual technologies and clusters of technologies and at the national scale for Switzerland. Close cooperation with SCCER CREST has been established and further meetings with SCCER FURIES are foreseen. Common working groups between SCCER Storage and SCCER FEEBD and EIP have been established. Performance, safety, dependability are further assessment critieria in particular for battery system solutions in any application. Qualified and verified procedures to estimate reliability and lifetime as well as compliance with safety regulations of electricity storage systems with batteries are established. Assessment and new ways of battery production are part of this investigation. Flexibility between power, heat, and electricity are of special focus as well in developing an electrothermal energy conversion unit and in realizing demonstration projects and pilot projects for power to gas systems. In this context, the team of WP5 has established new industry cooperations and started planning test-and demonstration units.

Künftig soll der grösste Teil unserer Energie aus regenerativen Quellen stammen. So wollen es die politischen Kräfte in Bundesbern. Auch wenn um die Höhe und das Tempo noch gerungen wird, ist eines sicher: es kommen grosse Herausforderungen auf die Energiebranche zu. Vor diesem Hintergrund hat die Regio Energie Solothurn unter dem Namen „Hybridwerk“ ein innovatives Projekt in Angriff genommen. Auf dem Areal Aarmatt verfügt die Regio Energie Solothurn über eine ideale Ausgangslage zur Realisierung dieses Projektes. Die drei Energienetze Strom, Gas und Fernwarme kommen auf diesem Areal zusammen. Das jüngste Netz in der Infrastruktur der Regio Energie Solothurn ist das Fernwärmenetz. Es war ursprünglich der Auslöser für das Projekt...(see book of abstracts for the complete text.)

The demand for storage of heat and electricity results not only from the technical characteristics of the energy system but also from the behavior of consumers and the investment and operating decisions of providers. This holds in particular for local storage options, where effects of individual decisions even out to a much smaller extent than in large-scale storage approaches. The presentation highlights several research streams in SCCER CREST that aim at understanding and analyzing households' demand and providers’ investment decisions. This research also shows how these decisions can be influenced via energy policy and the design of energy markets. It thus provides a link between energy policy, individual decisions, and the economic benefits offered by different storage options.