Novel Grid Scale Heat Storage Technology – Berlin District Heating Goes CO2 Free
(Room Arena 1)
19 Jun 18
4:00 PM
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5:30 PM
Tracks:
Arena 1: Energy storage: A New Paradigm
Vattenfall Solutions and Berlin based startup Lumenion Energy GmbH are joining forces to demonstrate a new grid scale heat storage technology, initially in a local district heating application. The technology not only overcomes some of the major drawbacks of renewable energy but shall eventually provide C02 free heat into the Berlin district heating system. The full paper is going to detail the technology and business cases for typical applications of the new storage solution. The Lumenion heat storage technology points at a critical issue of renewables, the fluctuating pattern of generation. The peaks in generation from wind power plants, which for a network operator are rather a challenge, are utilised to heat steel plates up to appr. 600 0C by means of conventional resistive heating elements. The system is highly insulated with thermal losses of appr. 1% per day. On the output side this heat can be utilised in three ways via conventional heat exchangers. The first one is process heat for industries with such demand. The second is district heating, both of them at high efficiencies of > 90%. And finally there is the option of feeding a steam turbine to generate electrical energy again. The benefits from the Lumenion storage technology are significant and apply to multiple stakeholders like network operators, wind and solar power plant operators, industries with high demand for process heat, wind turbine producers, aggregators and investors. Over the next five years Vattenfall, one of Europe's largest heat providers, plans to invest one billion Euros in the Berlin district heating systems. Vattenfall's CHP plants in Berlin will gradually switch from coal to gas, and eventually they will use surplus electricity from wind turbines.