The 96th mee­ting of the IEA Energy Sto­rage Tech­ni­cal Col­la­bo­ra­tion Pro­gramme in Ber­lin was a suc­cess

The Energy Sto­rage TCP of the IEA is an inter­na­tio­nal net­work that sup­ports the deve­lo­p­ment and inte­gra­tion of energy sto­rage tech­no­lo­gies. Experts from 22 count­ries came tog­e­ther to exch­ange exper­tise and infor­ma­tion on rese­arch, deve­lo­p­ment, and inte­gra­tion of sto­rage tech­no­lo­gies. Some of the cur­rent topics within the Energy Sto­rage TCP are the eco­no­mic via­bi­lity of energy sto­rage sys­tems, large-scale sto­rage sys­tems for dis­trict hea­ting and fle­xi­ble sec­tor cou­pling.

“The BVES has actively sup­ported the Energy Sto­rage Tech­no­logy Col­la­bo­ra­tion Pro­gram (ES TCP) for many years,” sta­ted Bea­trice Schulz, Head of Tech­no­lo­gies and Mar­kets at BVES. “The exch­ange with the inter­na­tio­nal sto­rage com­mu­nity is of great importance to us as it pro­vi­des an oppor­tu­nity to advance the deve­lo­p­ment and inte­gra­tion of energy sto­rage sys­tems world­wide and gain valuable insights,” added Schulz.

Focus on sto­rage stra­te­gies and road­maps

Other key topics included sto­rage stra­te­gies and road­maps for the imple­men­ta­tion of sto­rage tech­no­lo­gies in the glo­bal energy sys­tem. In this regard, Stan van den Broek from the Net­her­lands pre­sen­ted the sto­rage stra­tegy of the Dutch govern­ment.

“At the 96th mee­ting of the ES TCP Exe­cu­tive Com­mit­tee in Ber­lin, the exch­ange with repre­sen­ta­ti­ves from the BMWK on the topic of energy sto­rage stra­te­gies high­ligh­ted the strengths of a coor­di­na­ted Energy Sto­rage Road­map as gui­dance for all stake­hol­ders,” said Chris­toph Rath­ge­ber, Secre­tary of the ES TCP.

” Espe­ci­ally approa­ches such as fle­xi­ble sec­tor cou­pling, which aims to decar­bo­nise the heating/cooling and mobi­lity con­sump­tion sec­tors through the use of energy sto­rage sys­tems, require a clear and fair regu­la­tory frame­work that allows the various energy sto­rage tech­no­lo­gies to enter the mar­ket more con­sis­t­ently,” he empha­sised.

The dele­ga­tes had the oppor­tu­nity to exch­ange views with repre­sen­ta­ti­ves of the Minis­try of Eco­no­mics and Cli­mate Action (BMWK) on the fur­ther deve­lo­p­ment of the energy rese­arch pro­gram and approa­ches to a sto­rage stra­tegy. The exch­ange under­li­ned the need for a trans­pa­rent regu­la­tory frame­work for energy sto­rage, also regar­ding fle­xi­ble sec­tor cou­pling in the areas of elec­tri­city, heat and mobi­lity.

Fol­lo­wing the mee­ting, the dele­ga­tes embarked on a tech­ni­cal tour in Ber­lin, explo­ring three best-prac­tice faci­li­ties show­ca­sing Ger­man inno­va­tions in the field of energy sto­rage. They visi­ted Lumen­ion’s 2.4‑megawatt hour (MWh) high-tem­pe­ra­ture steel sto­rage faci­lity, which sup­plies cli­mate-fri­endly heat for around 400 house­holds in the north of Ber­lin.

The dele­ga­tes also tou­red the Vat­ten­fall plant which is curr­ently under con­s­truc­tion, the lar­gest heat sto­rage faci­lity in Ger­many, which will ensure a relia­ble and fle­xi­ble heat sup­ply for up to 13 hours once it is in ope­ra­tion. Finally, at the EUREF cam­pus, they explo­red the sus­tainable energy manage­ment sys­tem with the power-to-heat and power-to-cold sys­tem as well as a second-life bat­tery sto­rage sys­tem from STABL Energy and Audi.

The mee­ting empha­si­zed the cru­cial role of inter­na­tio­nal col­la­bo­ra­tion and shared stra­te­gies to unlock the poten­tial of energy sto­rage for increased inte­gra­tion of rene­wa­ble energy and to advance the glo­bal energy tran­si­tion.