Thermochemical Energy Storage with Integrated District Heat Production–A Case Study of Sweden

Diana Carolina Guío-Pérez, Guillermo Martinez Castilla (), David Pallarès, Henrik Thunman and Filip Johnsson
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Diana Carolina Guío-Pérez: Division of Energy Technology, Chalmers University of Technology, 41296 Gothenburg, Sweden
Guillermo Martinez Castilla: Division of Energy Technology, Chalmers University of Technology, 41296 Gothenburg, Sweden
David Pallarès: Division of Energy Technology, Chalmers University of Technology, 41296 Gothenburg, Sweden
Henrik Thunman: Division of Energy Technology, Chalmers University of Technology, 41296 Gothenburg, Sweden
Filip Johnsson: Division of Energy Technology, Chalmers University of Technology, 41296 Gothenburg, Sweden

Energies, 2023, vol. 16, issue 3, 1-26

Abstract: The implementation of electricity-charged thermochemical energy storage (TCES) using high-temperature solid cycles would benefit the energy system by enabling the absorption of variable renewable energy (VRE) and its conversion into dispatchable heat and power. Using a Swedish case study, this paper presents a process for TCES-integrated district heating (DH) production, assesses its technical suitability, and discusses some practical implications and additional implementation options. The mass and energy flows of a biomass plant retrofitted with an iron-based redox loop are calculated for nine specific scenarios that exemplify its operation under electricity generation mixes that differ with respect to variability and price. In addition, the use of two types of electrolyzers (low-temperature and high-temperature versions) is investigated. The results show that for the Swedish case, the proposed scheme is technically feasible and capable of covering the national DH demand by making use of the existing DH plants, with an estimated process energy efficiency (electricity to heat) of 90%. The results also show that for a retrofit of the entire Swedish DH fleet, the required inventories of iron are approximately 2.8 Mt for the intermediate scenario, which represents 0.3% and 11.0% of the national reserves and annual metallurgical production rates of the national industry, respectively. In addition to the dispatchable heat, the process generates a significant amount of nondispatchable heat, especially for the case that employs low-temperature electrolyzers. This added generation capacity allows the process to cover the heat demand while decreasing the maximum capacity of the charging side computed herein.

Keywords: variable renewable energy (VRE); thermochemical energy storage (TCES); iron looping; district heating (DH); electricity market; Nordic region (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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