Project description
Power balancing plant for a new energy era
Novel green and renewable energy innovations are in high demand due to increasing concerns about the impact of climate change. The EU-funded 24_7 ZEN project will address this issue. It will develop and demonstrate a cutting-edge reversible solid oxide cell (rSOC) power balancing plant that is compatible with both gas and electricity grids. The project will also highlight the use of high-quality materials and components, efficient systems and a focus on renewable energy generation. This will yield valuable insights into the potential for scaling up the plant and the rSOC system to achieve greater efficiency and competitiveness. The project will also showcase the benefits of clean hydrogen as a source of clean energy.
Objective
The goal of 24_7 ZEN is to design and build a high performing 33/100kW scale rSOC power balancing plant and demonstrate its compatibility with the electricity and gas grids. The multidisciplinary consortium behind this project has been spearheading innovations in the energy management and are pioneers on the rSOC systems development. Together, they cover every step of the value chain from enhanced materials on the cell level (POLITO, FORTH, IREC), fully operational rSOC system (SP_CH, SP_IT, OST) fully integrated, plug and play ecosystem for grid interconnection (INER, BOS, CERTH), renewable energy generation (EUNICE), transmission system operator (DESFA) and international quality assurance (KIWA). The ecosystems’ ability to optimize efficient routes of Power to Gas to Power, using H2 or NG as fuel and inject H2 into the grid, transition in <30 minutes and round trip efficiency of 45% will be demonstrated while ensuring compliance with standards and safety regulations. Finally, the consortium count on well-connected organizations in the European hydrogen, electricity and grid services sector (HSLU, CLUBE) that ensures the dissemination of the developed new business models and practices for renewable energy storage, including new concepts for the delivery of green hydrogen.
This consortium will develop and validate an ecosystem that can be efficiently scaled and replicated to multi-MW scale installations. Further knowledge on how to improve the performance of rSOC (degradation rates of 0.4%/kh for 1000h, current densities of 1.5A/cm2 in both modes) and make them more cost competitive (by reducing CAPEX from 6000€/kW to 3500€/kW) will be generated. At the end of the project, new and viable scenarios to provide grid balancing and supply green hydrogen will be presented by means of a deep techno-economic analysis. By advancing rSOC towards commercial exploitation, the renewable hydrogen deployment required for a climate neutral Europe will be one step closer.
Fields of science
Keywords
Programme(s)
- HORIZON.2.5 - Climate, Energy and Mobility Main Programme
Funding Scheme
HORIZON-JU-RIA - HORIZON JU Research and Innovation ActionsCoordinator
08930 Sant Adria De Besos
Spain