Test system in the laboratory of AEE INTEC, Austria (left) and the system shipped to Poland (right)
Photos credit: AEE INTEC
via EUREC member AEE INTEC
Compact thermal energy storage project CREATE chosen for IEA’s ‘Today in the Lab – Tomorrow in Energy’ Initiative
Today in the Lab – Tomorrow in Energy? is an initiative of the Technology Collaboration Programmes (TCPs) of the International Energy Agency to promote research projects under development with high innovation potential. The aim is to inform decision makers in government and industry as well as the broader public about the broad scope of research carried out in the TCP network and to help accelerate innovation and foster market deployment.
The results of the initiative were presented in July 2020. Out of 53 submissions six projects were chosen by the Committee of Energy Research and Technology (CERT) that met the required criteria best:
- easy to communicate through social media
- funded with testing under way
- pre-commercial (basic and applied research)
- addressing key energy policy concerns, such as sustainability and energy security
- conducted within the wider TCP network and/or in conjunction with other international initiatives
Amongst the six exemplary projects chosen by CERT is the CREATE project, led by the research institute AEE – Institute for Sustainable Technologies in Austria. The EU-funded project has developed a heat battery that provides buildings with affordable and effective heat storage. The active material is a so-called salt hydrate, in which the heat from solar collectors is stored in summer, to be used in winter. This is possible as there are virtually no heat losses with this storage technology. The storage material and different components were developed and tested and put together in a system that was tested in the laboratory in Austria and subsequently shipped to Poland to be demonstrated coupled to a real house in Warsaw.
Further research topics chosen by the initiative Today in the Lab – Tomorrow in Energy? deal with waste heat storage, the production of aviation fuels, the production and use of hydrogen and the development of a venetian blind for use in highly glazed facades that combines the benefits of conventional venetian blinds and solar thermal collectors.
The one thing that all submitted projects have in common is the desire to raise awareness of the contribution that their technologies and systems can make in reaching climate and energy goals.