Energy storage technology for heating

What is thermal energy storage?

Thermal energy storage in the form of sensible heat is based on the specifi c heat of a storage medium, which is usually kept in storage tanks with high thermal insulation. The most popular and commercial heat storage medium is water, which has a number of residential and industrial applications.

What is high-temperature energy storage?

In high-temperature TES, energy is stored at temperatures ranging from 100°C to above 500°C. High-temperature technologies can be used for short- or long-term storage, similar to low-temperature technologies, and they can also be categorised as sensible, latent and thermochemical storage of heat and cooling (Table 6.4).

Can thermal energy be stored in a heat storage media?

Thermal energy (i.e. heat and cold) can be stored as sensible heat in heat stor-age media, as latent heat associated with phase change materials (PCMs) or as thermo-chemical energy associated with chemical reactions (i.e. thermo-chemical storage) at operation temperatures ranging from -40°C to above 400°C.

What are the benefits of thermal energy storage?

Potential and Barriers – The storage of thermal energy (typically from renewable energy sources, waste heat or surplus energy production) can replace heat and cold production from fossil fuels, reduce CO 2 emissions and lower the need for costly peak power and heat production capacity.

Why do sensible heat storage systems require large volumes?

How-ever, in general sensible heat storage requires large volumes because of its low energy density (i.e. three and fi ve times lower than that of PCM and TCS systems, respectively). Furthermore, sensible heat storage systems require proper design to discharge thermal energy at constant temperatures.

What is underground thermal energy storage?

Underground Thermal Energy Storage (UTES) – UTES is also a widely used storage technology, which makes use of the underground as a storage medium for both heat and cold storage. UTES technologies include borehole storage, aquifer storage, cavern storage and pit storage.