Sand may provide energy storage solution

Adelaide firm bolstered by grant to commercialise concept

Sand may hold the key to cheaper electricity in the future, with an Australian company developing a new thermal energy storage system that would also provide businesses with a more reliable supply of electricity.

Adelaide-based Latent Heat Storage (LHS) has developed a low cost and highly scalable thermal energy storage system – known as TESS – based on the latent heat properties of silicon derived from sand.

The patented TESS device – small enough to fit inside a 20-foot shipping container but readily scalable as demand requires – is suitable for grid and off-grid applications and has been designed to overcome the intermittent nature of renewable energies such as wind and solar by providing a stable energy output suitable for base load power.

It differentiates from many competing technologies because of the impressive extent of its scalability, from small scale 500kW applications through to large scale applications in the hundreds of megawatts.

In addition, it can be integrated anywhere within an electricity network and will be suitable for commercial and industrial businesses where both heat and electricity are required such as hotels, hospitals, schools and aged care facilities.

And in a major vote of confidence for the fledgling company, LHS has been awarded a $400,000 commercialisation grant under the Australian Government’s Entrepreneurs’ Programme to help get its innovative energy storage idea to international markets.

LHS Chief Executive Officer Jonathan Whalley says the $400,000 grant is a significant breakthrough for the company, with LHS shareholders matching the Commonwealth grant dollar-for-dollar to generate $800,000 in project funding.

“Storage is the next big challenge for energy generation worldwide, so we’re excited at the prospect of developing our thermal energy storage system which provides a real solution to grid instability,” said Mr Whalley.

“Renewable energy sources generally spill energy due to supply and demand mismatches, so we’ve designed the TESS device to capture this ‘spilt’ energy for later use or release to the grid.

“Our system also means that energy consumers will be able to purchase stored electricity off-peak at low tariffs, which ultimately means cheaper energy.

“Our team is eager to further develop and introduce the TESS device on a global scale, so we’re very excited at the Australian Government grant which gives us a huge boost as we pursue commercialisation.

“After three years of research and development, our key objective now is to complete building a commercial prototype of the TESS device and start showcasing its potential to global markets.”

Electrical energy is stored as thermal energy by heating and melting containers full of silicon. The high latent heat capacity and melting temperature of silicon make it ideal for the storage of large amounts of energy, with a key benefit of the TESS device being its scalability to provide energy storage on an industrial scale up to several hundred megawatt hours – enough to power around 7,000 homes for a day.

Mr Whalley says the TESS device has been developed in partnership with Adelaide-based engineering consultancy ammjohn, and the University of Adelaide where final year engineering students have taken on TESS development work as honours projects.

“Energy prices are increasing around the world while storage technology costs are reducing, so we’re approaching the tipping point where energy storage systems are finally becoming commercially viable,” he said.

“In essence, we are developing an energy storage system to meet market demand.

“The commercial introduction of energy storage systems will help facilitate a larger scale deployment of renewable energy generation such as wind farms and solar arrays, which will have major implications for the reduction of carbon emissions of power generators as a higher proportion of renewable energy penetrates the grid.

“Importantly, we anticipate that this will result in exponential growth of the energy storage market worldwide.”

For more information about Latent Heat Storage visit www.latent-heat.com.

FURTHER INFORMATION: Please contact:
Jonathan Whalley, Latent Heat Storage CEO, on 0419 808 701

ISSUED BY HUGHES PUBLIC RELATIONS: Please contact
Kieran Hall on kieran@hughespr.com.au