Source: Energy & Management Powernews, May 20, 2022
The research phase is complete, now the project is to be implemented: Vattenfall is working on the storage of volatile electricity from renewable energy sources with the help of salt.
For three years, Vattenfall has tested at the Reuter combined heat and power plant in Berlin how excess energy from wind power or photovoltaics can be stored in salt. After this pioneering work the project moves now to Sweden - and is to be brought there further toward marketability, communicated the enterprise.
While river and warmth from wind and sun are available only fluctuating after weather situation, river and warmth on the demand side are needed however continuously. Electricity will therefore have to be converted and stored more frequently in the future. An innovative solution to this problem could be a salt solution. Energy is stored chemically in the salt by "charging" it with heat from electric current. The salt is separated from water in the process (dehydration). For this charging process, surplus electricity available in the grid is used - for example, a lot of wind power on stormy days.
When the stored energy from the dried salt is needed again, the salt in turn combines with water (hydrogenation). This chemical reaction releases the stored energy again in the form of heat. What is special about this storage solution is that the nanocoating developed by the project partner "SaltX" means that the properties of the salt are retained over the cycles and it does not lose its performance.
The plant in Berlin-Spandau will be dismantled by the end of the year, and a new plant has already been built in Stockholm, where the project is to be continued.
More information on the SaltX salt storage facility can be found here.
Author: Günter Drewnitzky
