FOSS Research Centre for Sustainable Energy
Last update: 23. Mar 2023
Description
N/A
Storage flexibility & Energy Conversion flexibility
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Smart-Taylored L-category Electric Vehicle demonstration in hEtherogeneous urbanuse-cases
Project dates: 01. Nov 2017 - 28. Feb 2021
Objective
Movement is at the heart of any city. Urban mobility faces significant challenges from two global megatrends: growing urbanisation and ageing population. Light electric vehicles (EL-Vs) could represent a viable solution to traffic congestion and pollution in cities. However, their successful integration into the urban transport system requires a clear understanding of the individual consumer needs. By involving human science and transportation specialists, the STEVE partners have developed a framework to interpret these forces. Focus will be on mature cities of medium size (Torino: 800.000 inhabitants, Villach 60.000, Calvià 60.000, Venaria 35.000), where STEVE will generate data to support the design of next generation EL Vs, and provoke the mind-shift necessary for swift market penetration of them. The primary idea of STEVE is to implement and test a human-centric approach to electro-Mobility-as-a-Service (eMaaS), according to the “Move2Me” vision of the consortium. This will provide low-cost and financially sustainable EL V solutions and “gamified” services, to enhance users’ awareness, engagement and vehicle energy efficiency. A core item of STEVE is a low-cost electric quadricycle developed by a worldwide OEM in Turin, with start-of-production expected in 2018 at a market price of €8000. The quadricycle will integrate high-technology contents with respect to the current competitors, and will be pilot-tested, together with many other EL-Vs, during extensive demonstration phases in the four STEVE cities STEVE will guarantee a strong impact in terms of business development and jobs, and enhance the European competitiveness in the eMaaS sector while also leveraging Manufacturing. The consortium will also give a primary role to SMEs: while large enterprises will provide the underlying technologies, the services will be mainly designed and operated by SMEs, deeply involved in the local supply chains and adaptable to the specific customers’ needs.
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Solar Energy Storage PERovskites
Project dates: 13. Nov 2017 - 12. Nov 2020
Objective
Solar energy, attractive source of energy being it free and endless, can be converted into electricity by means of a Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) plant. However, the biggest limit of such technology is the intermittency and the diurnal nature of the solar light. For their future development, CSP plants need to be coupled with storage system. Among the existing thermal storage systems, the ThermoChemical Storage (TCS) is one of the most promising technology and it is based on the exploitation of the reaction heat of a reversible chemical reaction. Just recently, perovskite systems have drawn increasing interest as promising candidates for TCS systems. Perovskites are generally indicated as ABO3, with A and B the two cations of the structure and with O the oxygen. They exhibit a continuous, quasi-linear oxygen release/uptake within a very wide temperature range. Their reduction being endothermic consists in the heat storage step, while the exothermic oxidation releases heat when it is required. The overall objective of the proposal is to study more earth abundant compositions (Ca-, Fe-, Mn- or Co-based) of perovskites for identifying one or more promising candidate storage medium for the design and the realization of a prototype of a multilevel-cascaded TCS system. It aims at solving the no-easy solution problem of the wide temperature range to be covered by a TCS system for CSP plant by using perovskites with different operating temperatures cascaded from the lowest operating temperature to the maximum one. As main result it could bring the TCS systems to a level closer to the market scale. The research project will be developed in collaboration with the IMDEA Energy Institute and the Materials Science and Engineering Department of Northwestern University. This project idea is totally in line with the current strict global energy and environmental politics and also with the Horizon 2020 objectives.
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Intelligent Control of Energy Storage for Smart Buildings and Grids
Project dates: 01. Mar 2017 - 31. Aug 2018
Objective
The ICE project will demonstrate that energy regulation services can be provided to the smart grid in a technically reliable and financially lucrative fashion by utilizing a combination of smart commercial buildings and commercial batteries. The key to out-competing traditional solutions with such a service is the provision of energy storage at low capital and operational costs, which the ICE solution does via a novel hybrid storage concept that mixes the inexpensive virtual storage capacity, but slow response, of smart commercial buildings, with fast, but expensive, electrical battery systems. The ERC project BuildNet has developed advanced algorithms to manage such a hybrid system that drastically reduces the required capex-intensive battery system compared to alternative solutions. ICE will take the first step towards commercialization of this concept via a production-ready demonstration of all components of the solution, and a detailed analysis of the resulting deployment and operational costs.
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Take the mystery out of battery life.
Project dates: 01. Jul 2019 - 31. Jan 2020
Objective
"Energy accounts for 60% of global greenhouse gas emissions and this share continues to further deteriorate. Rapid transition to renewable resources and electric vehicles seemingly could be a good cure but require a lot of rechargeable batteries for higher efficiency. The key challenge in this context is to understand how battery storage performance may be optimized, explore new ways of used battery application and maximize useful lifetime of the storage equipment. To address these challenges, we offer our intelligent cloud-based proprietary analytical SW solution which is monitoring the primary (single use) and secondary (rechargeable) batteries with various chemistries. The data will be subject to further processing and subsequently form the basis for the 3 services: Evotchi, ABEL and BaLiMa. Evotchi, a service watching over battery performance, identifies anomalies within time series of data from BMS and then provides personalized recommendations to users. ABEL (Average Battery End of Life) creates prediction based on AI/ML calculations about the forthcoming end of life of specific battery system. The service will also guarantee that the data will not be manipulated, thus unlocking new market opportunities (including new financing options) for used electric vehicles and energy storage systems in other industrial applications as parties will know the objective condition of the battery. BaLiMa (Battery Lifecycle Management), in turn, will recommend the best moment for repurposing the equipment, i.e. when the battery ceased being a good fit for its primary use scenario but fully capable of taking on secondary life and serving to another purpose. This service will provide recommendation for optimal timing of final disposal of the battery. We are confident that BatteryCheck not only delivers on UN's Climate Action goal (SDG#13) and Affordable and Clean Energy goal (SDG#7) but it also helps foster circular economy by prolonging effective utilization of all raw materials used in batteries since the beginning until the end."
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Innovative tank design and groundbreaking infrastructure model to enhance the availability of renewable energy by collecting, storing and transporting hydrogen, biomethane, nitrogen and LNG
Project dates: 01. Apr 2019 - 31. Aug 2019
Objective
The depleting reserves and the increasingly high cost of extraction are making oil difficult to access. The development and promotion of abundant and clean alternatives such as liquid hydrogen, liquid biomethane, nitrogen (all renewable fuels) and LNG is becoming a necessity. These gaseous fuels are among the serious options to be considered. Hydrogen, for example, can be produced anywhere where there is water and a source of electricity. And hydrogen-fueled vehicles emit no greenhouse gases or other pollutants. During combustion, hydrogen produces only water vapour. However, these fuels have significant infrastructure and transport limitations. Hydrogen is currently expensive also because is difficult to handle and store. The same applies to fuels like LNG. The current method of transporting LNG and other gas-based fuels like hydrogen, biomethane and nitrogen, is the cryogenic tanker. Specialised driver/operator training, and expensive equipment is required to handle these tanker—trailers and as such, there is often limited infrastructure for them outside states with large petrochemical industries. This limited transport infrastructure has, in turn, led to limited support infrastructure. GGLS has developed the GBG™, lightweight composite tanks for collecting, transporting and storing cryogenic materials, specifically gaseous fuels. These patented tanks can be used as an integral part of a system to maintain a continuous cryogenic gas supply or as on board fuel tanks for use in road vehicles, particularly heavy trucks, coaches, buses and vans or for rail, marine and aircraft applications. GBG™ innovative tanks are capable of revolutionising the collection, distribution and storage at the point of use of renewable fuels in both cryogenic and gaseous forms. Indeed, rather than transferring fuel, the GBG™ system is based on exchanging tanks, which are more safely and securely refilled under controlled conditions.
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2D Trifunctional Catalysts for Electrochemical Energy Conversion and Storage
Project dates: 01. Jun 2020 - 03. Dec 2022
Objective
The World is currently in a state of an energy and climate crisis. The World’s fossil fuel reserves are predicted to be depleted in the next century. Due to this and the increase in global warming, EU policies have called for the decrease use of carbon-based fossil fuels and the development of alternative energy resources. Hence, it is of paramount importance to conduct research into alternative energy conversion and storage technologies now. Electrolytic water splitting is an attractive process for producing clean hydrogen which can be used in a fuel cell to make electricity. The electrochemical energy needed for water splitting and fuel cells could be generated by materials that can hold efficient charge in the electrochemical double layer or in Faradaic regions e.g. supercapacitor materials. Unfortunately, these technologies (electrolysers, fuel cells and supercapacitors) are still under major research as the ‘state-of-the-art’ catalysts currently used are uneconomical. The development and rational design of new, cheap and active electrodes as tri-functional catalysts for these three alternative energy technologies is one avenue to explore to reach the goals set out by the various EU polices. 2D Transition Metal Oxide (TMO) materials may be the answer to this problem, as when compared to their bulk counterparts, 2D materials are more conductive and exhibit interesting properties. Currently, in the literature there are no trifunctional catalysts for the aforementioned alternative energy applications based on 2D TMO materials (source: Scopus, terms: 2D TMO materials/water splitting/ fuel cells/ supercapacitors). Hence this fellowship will investigate just that. The proposed multifunctional energy storage and conversion catalysts, in this fellowship, will be a first in the energy/materials field and will contribute a plethora of knowledge to current literature. I, the applicant, along with the Nicolosi group have the combined tools and knowledge to achieve this.
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Solar Energy to Biomass - Optimisation of light energy conversion in plants and microalgae
Project dates: 01. Mar 2016 - 31. Aug 2020
Objective
In the face of the increasing global consumption of fossil resources, photosynthetic organisms offer an attractive alternative that could meet our rising future needs as clean, renewable, sources of energy and for the production of fine chemicals. Key to the efficient exploitation of these organisms is to optimise the conversion of Solar Energy into Biomass (SE2B). The SE2B network deals with this optimisation in an interdisciplinary approach including molecular biology, biochemistry, biophysics and biotechnology. Regulation processes at the level of the photosynthetic membranes, integrating molecular processes within individual proteins up to flexible re-arrangements of the membranes, will be analysed as a dynamic network of interacting regulations. SE2B will yield information about the similarities and differences between cyanobacteria, green algae, diatoms and higher plants, the organisms most commonly employed in biotechnological approaches exploiting photosynthetic organisms, as well as in agriculture. The knowledge gained from understanding these phenomena will be directly transferred to increase the productivity of algal mass cultures for valuable products, and for the development of sophisticated analytic devices that are used to optimise this production. In future, the knowledge created can also be applicable to the design of synthetic cell factories with efficient light harvesting and energy conversion systems. The SE2B network will train young researchers to work at the forefront of innovations that shape the bio-based economy. SE2B will develop a training program based on individual and network-wide training on key research and transferable skills, and will furthermore disseminate these results by open online courses prepared by the young researchers themselves.
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High Performance Seasonal Solar Energy Latent Heat Thermal Storage Using Low Grade, Low Melting Temperature Metallic Alloys
Project dates: 01. Nov 2016 - 31. Oct 2018
Objective
Energy storage technologies have long been a subject of great interest to both academia and industry. The aim of this project is to develop a novel, cost effective and high performance Latent Heat Thermal Energy Storage System (LHTESS) for seasonal accumulation of solar energy in increased quantities. The major barrier for currently used Phase Change Materials (PCMs, organic and hydrated salts) is their very low heat conduction coefficient, low density, chemical instability and tendency to sub-cooling. Such inferior thermo-physical properties result in the LHTESS having large dimensions and not having a capacity to provide the necessary rate of heat re-charge and discharge, even with highly developed heat exchangers. The new approach to overcome the above issues is the deployment of low grade, eutectic low melting temperature metallic alloys (ELMTAs). The ELMTAs are currently produced for application in other areas and have not been actively considered for the thermal energy accumulation with the exception of very limited studies. Their heat conduction is two orders of magnitude greater than that of conventional PCMs, they are stable and provide the thermal storage capacity which is 2-3 times greater per unit of volume. The project consists of both theoretical and experimental investigations. A range of low grade ELMTAs for application in LHTESS will be selected and Differential Scanning Calorimetry will be used to measure their thermal properties. Thermal cycling tests of such alloys will be conducted. Numerical investigations of heat transfer and flow in the LHTESS with ELMTAs will be performed. Experimental studies of heat transfer and flow in a laboratory prototype of the LHTESS with ELMTAs will be conducted. As outcomes of investigations, dimensionless heat transfer correlations will be derived and design recommendations for a practical solar energy seasonal LHTESS with the low grade ELMTA will be produced for project industrial partner
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From discovery to scale up of cluster based electrolytes for Ultra-high energy storage flow batteries
Project dates: 01. Mar 2018 - 31. Aug 2019
Objective
Large scale energy storage demands are set to increase dramatically during the next years due to the expansion of renewables. One of the most promising large-scale electrical storage technologies are Redox Flow Battery (RFB) systems, which can convert electrical energy to chemical energy and back again. Here the electrolyte is an electro-active species where the chemical energy is converted to electricity in a flow cell. RFBs can act as both batteries and a fuel generation device depending on the needs of the user, which is advantageous because they can be recharged without replacing the electro-active material. The vanadium RFB is a promising technology, but is critically limited by only being able to store one electron per species giving a low energy density (~20 W h kg-1) and poor stability restricting many applications. Using the artificial intelligence driven discovery system of the ERC Advanced Grant SMART-POM, we aimed at the discovery of new metal oxide molecular polyoxometalate (POM) clusters showing unexpected properties. For instance, we found a molecule that can store > 10 times more electrons reversibly than the vanadium RFB making these the molecules the most reduced molecules ever discovered. Here we want to make a major step in translating this ground-breaking outcome of SMART-POM from discovery of new clusters, to scale up so the molecule can be tested in a flow battery device set up. The heart of any flow battery is the electron storage redox electrolyte. The more electrons the electrolyte can store reversibly the higher the energy density and we aim here to beat the state of the art by at least an order of magnitude aiming >1000 Wh L-1 (at this point applications in electric cars are possible). We will licence the technology with the University of Glasgow spin out company, Astrea Power, as a partner to co-develop the innovation with several potential multinational companies as customers who are eager to utilize the technology.