Thermal Energy Storage (TES): innovation serving decarbonization
More renewables and more volatility in demand
means there’s a need for flexibility.
There will be a need for suitable solutions.
Today, this flexibility is predominantly provided
by thermal power plants,
facilities that over time we want to decommission,
but also by hydropower plants.
Therefore, there will be a need to replace the flexibility that we’ll lose
as the plants are gradually closed.
So, how can this be done?
One solution is undoubtedly storage facilities.
This thermal battery is possibly
the largest that’s ever been developed
with this technology anywhere in the world.
Our intention is to use it mainly in conjunction with renewables,
so this battery, which is filled with rocks,
will be heated via electric heaters powered by clean, sustainable, green energy.
This heat can then be recovered to be reused, for example,
in production processes that require heat,
which is currently produced from fossil fuels,
or to generate electricity.
Such a technology would enable,
depending on solar or wind power and no gas.
I expect that now after Enel gets the confidence
about this technology, a massive implementation,
not just in power plants, but in an industrial location,
in residential heating where heating is required for the homes.
Our objective is to decarbonize all the sectors
that employ hot steam,
using renewables upstream instead.
The renewable sources will heat stones or sand,
therefore completely eliminating the dependence on gas.
We also want to eliminate the dependence on rare earth elements,
valuable raw materials such as lithium,
which are used in other storage technologies.