H2020 CryoHub Project: Development of cryogenic energy storage in refrigerated warehouses as an interactive hub for integrating renewable energy into industrial food refrigeration and improving PowerGrid sustainability
- Type Project
- Status Filled
- Execution 2016 -2021
- Assigned Budget 7.045.594,38 €
- Scope Europeo
- Main source of financing H2020
- Project website Proyecto CryoHub
Description
Thermal energy storage has received much attention recently, enabling the capture of waste heat and its use to produce electricity or meet heating needs. Cryogenic energy storage (CES), which involves the use of cryogenic liquids (at ultra-low temperatures) to store energy, is also gaining relevance. It can contribute to balancing an electricity grid increasingly dependent on renewable energy sources (RES), while also meeting the cooling needs of, for example, cold storage food warehouses. However, until now, its use has been limited due to its low efficiency. The EU-funded CryoHub project seeks to maximize the efficiency of CES by using air as a cryogen, solving existing challenges and paving the way for wider adoption of CES-based technologies.
Description of activities
During the first 30 months of the project, the following have been achieved: 1. Project management has been established, and ongoing management activities are on track. 2. Regular meetings are being held (in addition to the General Assembly meetings), and good links and working agreements have been developed between the partners. 3. The project communications partner has created a website and social media channels. The project branding and identity have been finalized and used in promotional materials and activities. The team has created materials to communicate information (newsletters, brochures, billboards) and used them at events to publicize the CryoHub project. The CryoHub team has communicated information at various workshops, conferences, and events. 4. Refrigeration installation and RES mapping have been completed, and the work described in WP2 has been completed. 5. The potential for installing RES technologies in cold stores without access to renewable energy schemes has been determined. 6 Case studies on the application of LAES in cold storage warehouses have been completed at 6 locations. 7 Work on market barriers and strategies has been completed. 8 Modeling of the CryoHub system has been completed and will be used as an ongoing tool in the final design of the CryoHub demonstrator. 9 A PI&D for the CryoHub demonstrator has been developed, and components and equipment are being integrated. Component costs have been obtained, and the demonstrator design is being tailored to allow budget constraints to be respected. Frigologix has been identified as the site for the CryoHub demonstrator, and FRIG has been added as a new partner in the CryoHub consortium. 10 The operating procedure and grid codes and energy management strategy simulations for the CryoHub demonstrator have been completed. 11 Heat exchangers for the CryoHub demonstrator have been identified, and their integration into a cold storage warehouse has been modeled. 12 The thermal accumulators for the demonstrator have been designed and tested at laboratory scale. Although the work described in Work Package 7 has already been completed (Work Package 7.2 was slightly delayed), ongoing work is planned to test the thermal accumulator materials at a larger scale and at lower cryogenic temperatures. A prototype thermal accumulator has been built in AL and will be tested in the coming months. 13 Analysis of when and where the technology integration would be most valuable for utilities and at the energy system level has been completed. 14 Work is underway on policies, business models, and the future integration of the CryoHub system into the electricity grid.
Contextual description
Greater direct use of renewable energy means the electricity grid is dependent on weather or tidal variations. Too little or too much power may be generated, and there is limited control over the timing of its generation. This poses a problem for grid stability, as energy production is uncontrollable. The problem is likely to worsen with the increasing use of renewable energy, especially given that the EU aims to generate 20% of the energy used in Europe from renewable sources by 2020. One method of balancing generation and demand is to store energy during periods of low demand and use it during periods of high demand. Cryogenic storage uses low-temperature liquids (such as liquid air or liquid nitrogen) as a medium for energy storage and transfer. Cryogenic storage can provide large-scale, long-duration energy storage. The primary objective of the CryoHub project is to investigate the potential for large-scale LAES (Liquid Air Energy Storage) in cold stores and food factories, and to use the stored energy to provide on-site cooling and electrical power generation during peak demand periods. This approach has several advantages: 1. Providing large-scale energy storage to help balance the grid on daily and weekly timescales (taking energy from the grid when there is too much and putting energy in when there is not enough). 2. Storing energy from local intermittent RES (Renewable Energy Sources) before supplying it to the grid. 3. 'Peak-shaving' (i.e., removing the peak power requirement from the grid) the energy use of cold stores/food factories while simultaneously generating and supplying some of the required peak energy back to the grid. 4. Providing free cooling to cold stores during power generation. 5. Decarbonizing the electricity grid. By using LAES, considerable benefits are achieved by enabling more efficient use of low-carbon resources. To achieve this overall goal, the CryoHub project has the following sub-objectives: 1. To assess the current and future potential of LAES in cold storage warehouses and disseminate this potential to stakeholders and end-users in the energy and food refrigeration sectors. 2. To determine the key processes and unit operations for leveraging LAES in a typical cold storage warehouse and identify how to optimally integrate waste heat and stored cryogenic cold. 3. To identify the energy and carbon savings that LAES could achieve in cold storage warehouses and food factories, compared to conventional installations. 4. To identify engineering solutions for integrating a LAES system with a typical warehouse refrigeration plant, optimizing performance and improving efficiency. 5. Develop a software system for automated decision-making and management of renewable energy (RES) ratio and cryogen consumption based on expected warehouse and grid performance, environmental conditions, energy demand and availability, price fluctuations (based on negotiated tariff plans or stock market fluctuations), etc. 6. Develop, validate, and demonstrate the performance of the LAES system technology for a cold storage facility. 7. Develop a strategy for LAES deployment across Europe.
Objectives
The CryoHub innovation project will investigate and expand the potential of large-scale cryogenic energy storage (RES) and apply the stored energy for both refrigeration and power generation. By employing renewable energy sources (RES) to liquefy and store cryogens, CryoHub will balance the electricity grid, while meeting the cooling demand of a cold storage warehouse and recovering waste heat from its equipment and components. Intermittent supply is a major obstacle to the RES energy market. In reality, RES are fickle forces, prone to overproduce when demand is low and under-deliver when demand peaks. Europe is on track to generate 20% of its energy needs from RES by 2020, so proper integration of RES poses challenges across the continent. Cryogenic energy storage (CES), and in particular liquid air energy storage (LAES), is a promising technology that enables on-site storage of RES energy during periods of high generation and its use during peak grid demand. CES therefore acts as grid energy storage (GES), where cryogen is boiled to drive a turbine and restore electricity to the grid. To date, CES applications have been quite limited by low round-trip efficiency (ratio of expended to recovered energy from energy storage) due to unrecovered energy losses. Therefore, the CryoHub project is designed to maximize CES efficiency by recovering cooling and heating energy in a perfect RES-driven cycle of cryogen liquefaction, storage, distribution, and efficient use. Cold storage warehouses for chilled and frozen food products are large consumers of electricity, possess powerful installed cooling and heating capacities, and waste substantial amounts of heat. These facilities provide the ideal industrial environment to advance and demonstrate the benefits of LAES. In this way, CryoHub will solve most of the aforementioned problems in one fell swoop, paving the way for broader market prospects for CES-based technologies across Europe.
Results
The CryoHub project takes LAES beyond its current development to generate improved efficiencies and demonstrate its benefits to cold store and food factory operators. The project uses components currently at TRL5 or higher and integrates them into novel designs to provide cooling and power generation from a LAES system. While LAES systems have been developed, they have never harnessed waste heat from cold stores or food factories. The project's goal is to encourage cold store and food factory operators to learn about LAES systems and their potential. Through the demonstration, it is hoped that end-users will be convinced of the benefits of LAES and equipped with the information and tools needed to incorporate it into current and future renewable energy installations. The project works closely with cold stores and food factories to overcome concerns about installing a new process for the end user and to understand the issues related to technology adoption. The CryoHub project is expected to contribute to the impacts envisaged in the work program in the following areas: development of LAES-related policies; reduction of energy demand and carbon emissions; increased use of renewable energy sources (RES); grid balancing; development of the local renewable energy sector (LAES); and business opportunities for companies in a new sector.
Coordinators
- LONDON SOUTH BANK UNIVERSITY LBG (LSBU)
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