Sta­tus Con­fe­rence On Ther­mal Sto­rage: Appeal For A Prompt Heat Sto­rage Stra­tegy

The con­fe­rence under­li­ned that the energy tran­si­tion must encom­pass the entire energy sys­tem, espe­ci­ally the hea­ting sec­tor. More than half of final energy con­sump­tion falls to the hea­ting sec­tor, wher­eby pro­cess heat accounts for over 60 per­cent of final energy con­sump­tion in the indus­trial sec­tor. There is enorm­ous poten­tial for the use of energy sto­rage sys­tems in the hea­ting sec­tor. Ther­mal sto­rage sys­tems enable a decen­tra­li­zed and self-suf­fi­ci­ent heat sup­ply and the adjus­t­ment of hea­ting and coo­ling requi­re­ments inde­pendently of using fos­sil fuels. For the indus­trial sec­tor, ther­mal sto­rage sys­tems can increase energy effi­ci­ency in the pro­duc­tion pro­cess and drive for­ward the elec­tri­fi­ca­tion and decar­bo­niza­tion of indus­try.

A variety of tech­no­lo­gies are rea­dily available

Various com­pa­nies from the BVES mem­bers show­ca­sed tech­no­lo­gies that are alre­ady imple­men­ted in dif­fe­rent appli­ca­ti­ons. These include Kraft­block with solid fuel sto­rage sys­tems, Malta with mol­ten salt sto­rage sys­tems, LUMEN­ION with steel sto­rage sys­tems, Car­bon Clean Solu­ti­ons with heat bat­te­ries, Iqony, Ener­gy­Nest with high-per­for­mance con­crete and Flamco with phase change mate­rial. All these tech­no­lo­gies can be used both sta­tio­nary and mobile in requi­red tem­pe­ra­ture ran­ges and are easily sca­lable. GP Joule in addi­tion showed how local and dis­trict hea­ting net­works with sto­rage sys­tems can use 100% rene­wa­ble heat.

The par­ti­ci­pants empha­si­zed that the lack of a legal frame­work and regu­la­ti­ons is hin­de­ring the suc­cessful imple­men­ta­tion of sto­rage sys­tems in Ger­many. In his pre­sen­ta­tion, Ulf Jacob­sha­gen, lawyer and part­ner at Becker Bütt­ner Held, out­lined the cur­rent legal frame­work for the hea­ting sec­tor and the hea­ting tran­si­tion as well as the latest deve­lo­p­ments and pro­s­pects.

The topic of heat shifts into the poli­ti­cal focus

Poli­cy­ma­kers also voi­ced their sup­port. Dr. Beate Baron, sub-depart­ment head for cli­mate and envi­ron­men­tal pro­tec­tion in indus­try, pre­sen­ted the BMWK’s goals and policy instru­ments for the decar­bo­niza­tion of indus­try. She also stres­sed the importance of ther­mal sto­rage for the gene­ra­tion of pro­cess heat. Maria-Lena Weiss, MP, CDU/CSU fac­tion, empha­si­zed the importance of elec­tri­fy­ing the heat sup­ply with the help of ther­mal sto­rage sys­tems and pled­ged to advo­cate sui­ta­ble frame­work con­di­ti­ons in the Bun­des­tag in order to acce­le­rate the heat tran­si­tion in small and medium-sized enter­pri­ses. Chris­tian Maaß, Head of Depart­ment for Heat, Hydro­gen and Effi­ci­ency at the BMWK, out­lined the ongo­ing deve­lo­p­ment of the heat sto­rage stra­tegy, which will soon be pre­sen­ted for con­sul­ta­tion.

The sta­tus con­fe­rence has cle­arly shown: The energy tran­si­tion encom­pas­ses far more than just rene­wa­ble elec­tri­city gene­ra­tion. Com­ple­ting the hea­ting tran­si­tion is a decisive and major fac­tor in the deve­lo­p­ment of a rene­wa­ble energy sys­tem. The hea­ting sec­tor should no lon­ger be the “ele­phant in the room”. It needs an ade­quate regu­la­tory frame­work that sup­ports the use of sto­rage tech­no­lo­gies. Fur­ther­more, the per­spec­tive should remain tech­no­logy-open and not be nar­ro­wed down to just sub­si­ding of spe­ci­fic tech­no­lo­gies. The BVES is wil­ling to use its exper­tise to find con­s­truc­tive and effec­tive solu­ti­ons tog­e­ther with the decis­ion-makers in the BMWK, the Bun­des­tag and the rele­vant com­mit­tees.