USES4HEAT – Underground Large Scale Seasonal Energy Storage for Decarbonized and Reliable Heat

Background

The heating sector is not on track toward achieving the IEA Net Zero Emission scenario’s targets, heat demand below 150°C represent more than a third of the overall EU energy demand and it mainly relies on fossil fuels. Possible solutions include an efficient integration of local renewable energy sources, the use of various forms of excess and waste heat sources, district heating) integration also providing additional flexibility on the power sector. However, the integration of large-scale, seasonal TES solutions is crucial and part of the strategic agenda and a key cross-cutting technology for modern fully decarbonized heating system. One of the major challenges for future energy systems, and particularly for the heating sector largely affected by seasonality, is to overcome the mismatch between supply and demand. The deployment of large-scale TES can facilitate the interlinking between the electricity and the heating sectors, enabling a larger penetration of intermitted RES both at the power and heat generation side and optimized management of more traditional plants like cogeneration units. These new operational constrains in future energy systems also require the development of advanced, intelligent energy management tools to ensure an optimized and smart systemic energy approach, control and operation.

USES4HEAT will prove and demonstrate, at TRL 8, the effectiveness and techno-economic-social viability of innovative, large-scale, seasonal UTES ensuring limited CAPEX, reduced environmental impact and energy losses, and able to be efficiently integrated in DHN, accumulating various sources of heat, and granting reliable and decarbonized heating supply. AI based solutions will optimize the overall system integration ensuring optimal energy management and more reliable future heating systems.

Aim and Objectives

The main goals and objective of USES4HEAT is to demonstrate innovative, large scale, seasonal thermal energy storage solutions enabling a future decarbonized and reliable heating supply. To achieve that the project will:

• Develop and demonstrate at TRL 8 two innovative large-scale cost-effective seasonal TES technologies (ATES and BTES) for decarbonised heating supply.
• Develop and demonstrate at TRL 8 key enabling technologies for decarbonisation, increased flexibility, availability and robustness of the heating sector and integration with seasonal TES.
• Develop and demonstrate at TRL 8 intelligent energy management systems, based on AI and big-data analytics, and predictive O&M.
• Assess the performance and sustainability of USES4HEAT from a holistic and systematic perspective accounting for circular economy, social, economic, financial and environmental aspects.

Project partners

Listed one in a row.

1. Kungliga Tekniska Hoegskolan
2. Svenska Miljöinstitutet AB
3. Università degli Studi di Genova
4. Fundación CARTIF
5. Fondazione Bruno Kessler
6. Chalmers University of Technology
7. Haflsund Oslo Celsio
8. Hallingplast AS
9. Bengt Dahlgren Stockholm Geo AB
10. Absolicon Solar Collector AB
11. Cartiere del Garda S.p.A
12. Alto Garda Servizi S.p.A.
13. Alto Garda Power S.r.l
14. HiRef S.p.A.
15. Energenius S.r.l.
16. HYDRA S.r.l.
17. Endef Engineering
18. Euroheat & Power AISBL
19. Energy Institute Hrvoje Požar
20. HRVATSKA ELEKTROPRIVREDA DIONICKO DRUSTVO
21. YUGOIZTOCHNOEVROPEYSKA TEHNOLOGICHNA KOMPANIA OOD
22. AquaTonic Ltd.
23. SMART SUSTAINABLE SOCIAL INNOVATIONS SINGLE MEMBER P.C
24. ETHNIKO KENTRO EREVNAS KAI TECHNOLOGIKIS ANAPTYXIS
25. DIMOTIKI EPICHEIRISI YDREFSIS KAI APOCHETEFSIS KOZANIS
26. Kvarnholmen Utveckling AB
27. Veolia

Funding is provided by Horizon Europe (CINEA) - Grant Agreement No 101136136.

Timeframe: December 2023 – November 2027

Researchers