Researchers at the US Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) have developed a prototype for a multi-day energy storage system using heated sand, setting the stage for a pilot demonstration project.
The sand used in the thermal energy storage (TES) system could be heated to the range of 1,100 C using low-cost renewable power.The US Department of Energy will provide USD 4M to fund a pilot demonstration project sized with a 100 kW discharge capacity and a 10-hour duration, with groundbreaking set for next year at NREL’s Flatiron campus outside Boulder, Colorado. The pilot project is intended to show the technology’s commercial potential.
At commercial scale, when the sand is fully heated and stored in five silos, the technology could produce 135 MW of power for five days, according to an NREL report.