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Released April 22, 2019 | GALWAY, IRELAND
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Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland)--Swedish energy major Vattenfall (Stockholm, Sweden) has teamed up with SaltX to store energy from windfarms and solar power installations in salt.
The company has commissioned the first industrial-scale salt-based energy storage plant at its Reuter thermal power plant in Spandau, Berlin, in Germany. The pilot plant has a total storage capacity of 10 megawatts-hours (MWh), and according to SaltX, its patented technology has proven to be able to store up to 10 times more energy and for much longer periods than water. The project is designed to address the global problem of being able to store renewable energy for use at a later time--something that other firms are also tackling by rolling out large lithium-ion battery storage solutions.
SaltX's system uses nano-coated salt crystals that are heated with electricity during storage and can then discharge heat for district heating or for creating steam for industrial processes. The "salt battery" can be charged several thousand times and the energy can be stored for weeks or months without losses. The system has four components--two storage tanks and two reactors. There is one tank for uncharged salt and one for charged salt and one reactor for charging the salt and one to discharge it. The company said that the storage tanks "do not need to be pressurised, are scalable and simple to install."
"In the next few months, we will collect important data to get answers to the question of whether and how this type of plant can be used in our business," explained Markus Witt, responsible for the project at Vattenfall Wärme Berlin AG. "Some questions are how large amounts of salt can be used, how quickly the storage medium reacts and how the process can be controlled."
Harald Bauer, CEO of SaltX Technology, added: "The energy sector is changing quickly, and we globally see an enormous need for energy storage. Germany is a country at the forefront of this development, and we are proud to have Vattenfall as a partner. We are eager to launch our energy storage solution commercially as quickly as possible."
The pilot project will run until the end of the summer, with the collected results to be presented by the end of the year. The project forms part of a long-term rebuilding of the Reuter power plant. In 2019, Vattenfall will start operating Europe's largest power-to-heat facility there, an energy store based on the storage of hot water. Next year, the company will take the Reuter C coal power plant out of service--part of its longer-term plan to phase out all coal as a fuel in all of its heating operations in Berlin by 2030.
Vattenfall also is working with Cementa AB on the first project globally to electrify the production of cement. The CemZero project at Cementa's factory in Slite on the island of Gotland in Sweden has shown that "technical prerequisites exist for electrified cement production." For additional information, see February 11, 2019 article - World's First 'Zero-Carbon' Cement Plant Project Advances in Sweden.
Industrial Info Resources (IIR), with global headquarters in Sugar Land, Texas, six offices in North America and 12 international offices, is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy markets. Our European headquarters are located in Galway, Ireland. Follow IIR Europe on: Facebook - Twitter - LinkedIn For more information on our European coverage send inquiries to info@industrialinfo.eu or visit us online at Industrial Info Europe.
The company has commissioned the first industrial-scale salt-based energy storage plant at its Reuter thermal power plant in Spandau, Berlin, in Germany. The pilot plant has a total storage capacity of 10 megawatts-hours (MWh), and according to SaltX, its patented technology has proven to be able to store up to 10 times more energy and for much longer periods than water. The project is designed to address the global problem of being able to store renewable energy for use at a later time--something that other firms are also tackling by rolling out large lithium-ion battery storage solutions.
SaltX's system uses nano-coated salt crystals that are heated with electricity during storage and can then discharge heat for district heating or for creating steam for industrial processes. The "salt battery" can be charged several thousand times and the energy can be stored for weeks or months without losses. The system has four components--two storage tanks and two reactors. There is one tank for uncharged salt and one for charged salt and one reactor for charging the salt and one to discharge it. The company said that the storage tanks "do not need to be pressurised, are scalable and simple to install."
"In the next few months, we will collect important data to get answers to the question of whether and how this type of plant can be used in our business," explained Markus Witt, responsible for the project at Vattenfall Wärme Berlin AG. "Some questions are how large amounts of salt can be used, how quickly the storage medium reacts and how the process can be controlled."
Harald Bauer, CEO of SaltX Technology, added: "The energy sector is changing quickly, and we globally see an enormous need for energy storage. Germany is a country at the forefront of this development, and we are proud to have Vattenfall as a partner. We are eager to launch our energy storage solution commercially as quickly as possible."
The pilot project will run until the end of the summer, with the collected results to be presented by the end of the year. The project forms part of a long-term rebuilding of the Reuter power plant. In 2019, Vattenfall will start operating Europe's largest power-to-heat facility there, an energy store based on the storage of hot water. Next year, the company will take the Reuter C coal power plant out of service--part of its longer-term plan to phase out all coal as a fuel in all of its heating operations in Berlin by 2030.
Vattenfall also is working with Cementa AB on the first project globally to electrify the production of cement. The CemZero project at Cementa's factory in Slite on the island of Gotland in Sweden has shown that "technical prerequisites exist for electrified cement production." For additional information, see February 11, 2019 article - World's First 'Zero-Carbon' Cement Plant Project Advances in Sweden.
Industrial Info Resources (IIR), with global headquarters in Sugar Land, Texas, six offices in North America and 12 international offices, is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy markets. Our European headquarters are located in Galway, Ireland. Follow IIR Europe on: Facebook - Twitter - LinkedIn For more information on our European coverage send inquiries to info@industrialinfo.eu or visit us online at Industrial Info Europe.
