SEHRENE’s new electro-thermal energy storage (ETES) concept is designed to store renewable electricity (RE) and heat and to restitute it as needed. It is very energy-efficient (80-85%), geographically independent and uses no critical raw materials. It enables 8-12 times longer storage duration than Li-ion, with LCOS of 80 – 137 €/MWh, depending on the use-case. This is lower than pumped hydro, the lowest-cost commercial electricity storage. Its lifetime of 20-30 years is 2 – 3x longer than Li-ion.
A TRL4 prototype and the digital twins of 3 full use-cases will be delivered: (i) ceramics plant storing excess, on-site PV power in a micro-grid and industrial waste-heat for continuous green H2 production and self-consumption, (ii) a smart-grid, and (iii) a geothermal power plant.
SEHRENE ETES integrates: (i) a novel heat-pump (HP) design with a coefficient of performance of 50% the theoretical maximum, (ii) a novel thermal energy storage system (TES) with energy density of 90 kWh/m3 (+30%), containing phase-change material (PCM) in a novel metallic Kelvin cells-like foam and (iii) ORC (Organic Rankin Cycle) with novel operating parameters. New digital tools will optimize the energy management of the storage and facilitate investment decisions by potential end-users taking LCA and technico-economic factors into account. SEHRENE unites 5 R&D teams with top-level expertise in prototyping, physics-based modelling, characterization and digital twins of thermo-electric systems, thermal storage and AI-based energy-management; 1 RE producer, 1 DSO, 1 ceramics company, 1 SME developing decision-support tools, and 1 SME for dissemination and communication. The exploitation plan aims to implement the solution in the first factory in 2029. SEHRENE’s market penetration will enable to capture 1% of the market by 2040 avoiding 90Mm3 of NG and 15Mt CO2/year. R&D and industrial partners project to generate 5.8M€ in revenues by 2035 from sales of heat pumps, thermal storage, ORC, licenses to R&D results and consulting services. In summary, SEHRENE introduces an innovative ETES solution, addressing a critical technological challenge faced by conventional ETES systems - round-trip efficiencies diminished by temperature losses. This disruptive architecture not only resolves this issue but also positions itself as a viable option to meet Europe's energy transition requirements.
