Project description
A solution for renewable electricity storage
In the pursuit of harnessing renewable electricity, a pressing challenge arises: the intermittent nature of sources like solar and wind power. This means surplus energy during peak production and shortages when the sun sets or the wind is calm. In this context, the EU-funded HERCULES project aims to store excess renewable electricity efficiently. Specifically, it will combine thermochemical and sensible heat storage using refractory redox metal oxides and electric heating elements. Upon demand, the fully charged system releases its energy through controlled airflow, triggering oxidation and producing a valuable hot air stream for industrial use. Spearheaded by a collaborative consortium of research centres, universities, SMEs, and industry giants, HERCULES promises an ingenious path towards a greener future.
Objective
HERCULES introduces a novel breakthrough approach towards thermal energy storage of surplus renewable energy via a hybrid thermochemical/sensible heat storage with the aid of porous media made of refractory redox metal oxides and electrically powered heating elements. The heating elements use surplus/cheap renewable electricity (e.g. from PVs, wind, or other sources) to charge the metal oxide-based storage block by heating it to the metal oxide reduction temperature (i.e. charging/energy storage step) and subsequently (i.e. upon demand) the fully charged system transfers its energy to a controlled airflow that passes through the porous oxide block which initiated the oxidation of the reduced metal oxide. It is an exothermic process thus a hot air stream is produced during this step which can be used to provide exploitable heat for industrial processes. The proposed research will be conducted by an interdisciplinary consortium constituting leading research centers, universities, innovative SMEs, and large enterprises including ancillary service providers and technology end-users.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. This project's classification has been validated by the project's team.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. This project's classification has been validated by the project's team.
- engineering and technologyenvironmental engineeringenergy and fuelsrenewable energy
- engineering and technologymechanical engineeringthermodynamic engineeringheat engineering
- natural scienceschemical sciencesinorganic chemistryinorganic compounds
- natural scienceschemical sciencesphysical chemistrythermochemistry
Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
HORIZON-RIA - HORIZON Research and Innovation ActionsCoordinator
7522 NB Enschede
Netherlands