14 April 2023

Storing Electricity with Industrial Heat Pumps: Carnot Batteries for Grid-Level Energy Storage

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To mitigate environmental impacts, there is an urgent need to reduce CO2 emissions in all sectors. In particular, electrification of energy-intensive processes is the key to avoiding CO2 emissions aiming at the full provision of
electricity from renewable energy sources [1]. However, electricity generation from renewable energy sources
depends highly on time-variant boundary conditions, e.g. sun or wind, and is hence not permanently available.
To overcome the availability gap, efficient electricity storage systems are essential as they shift energy from
low-demand periods to high-demand periods [2]. Today, Pumped Hydro Energy Storage (PHES) is the predominant
grid-scale electricity storage technology proven to be technically and economically viable, making up 95 %
of the overall global storage capacity [3]. However, for most electrified systems, the easily-exploitable potential
is almost exhausted [4]. Alternative electricity storage solutions must therefore be investigated and brought to
market.