Thermal storage and energy storage is a blue ocean

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.

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.

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 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.

What is ocean thermal energy conversion?

Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion as a concept has been around as early as the late 19 th century. The principle is fairly simple, and functions on floating platforms or “barges”. Heat energy from a hot reservoir of surface sea water is transferred to an intermediate refrigerant liquid which evaporates, and the vapour produced will spin a turbine.

What is sensible heat storage?

Sensible heat storage is relatively inexpensive compared to PCM and TCS systems and is applicable to domestic systems, district heating and industrial needs. 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).