Recently, a number of thermal energy storage solution providers have concluded or implemented commercial deals in Norway, Greece, Israel and South Africa.
The Kyoto Group has signed a Letter of Intent (LOI) with Norwegian corrugated board manufacturer Glomma Papp to enter into a supply agreement for the Kyoto Group’s thermal energy storage solution Heatcube. The thermal energy storage system could be commissioned as early as summer 2023.
The company's solution is a thermal energy storage system based on molten salt with an energy storage capacity of 4MWh to over 100MWh and an installed capacity of up to 25MW. The Kyoto Group launched a pilot project in February 2020 with an installed capacity of over 1MW.
The company acquired Spain-based Mercury Energy, which owns several intellectual property (IPR) technologies related to thermal energy storage development, in March this year, and the Kyoto Group subsequently renamed it Kyoto Technology Spain.
Norway-based thermal energy storage provider Azelio has announced that its thermal energy storage solution has been installed at agricultural developer Wee Bee's factory in South Africa.
The company has installed the first TES.POD thermal energy storage system in the North West Province of South Africa. Industry media reported on the company's order acquisition in November 2021.
This TES.POD thermal energy storage system is able to store energy at 600°C in a phase change material (PCM) made of recycled aluminum alloys and then drive a Stirling engine to convert the thermal energy into electricity.
In Wee Bee's case, the thermal energy storage system will draw power from a solar power facility and provide dispatchable heat and electricity to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. In this order of the company, a total of 8 TES.POD thermal energy storage systems are provided.
Israel-based Brenmiller Energy has ordered thermal energy storage equipment worth $1.4 million to expand its production facility under construction in Dimona, Israel. The equipment will be delivered in November, and the production facility is expected to have a capacity of 4GWh by the end of 2023.
Brenmiller Energy's bGen thermal energy storage system heats the crushed rock to 600°C and can then store the thermal energy for a period of minutes, hours or days. The stored thermal energy can be used to generate energy in the form of steam, water or hot air for industrial applications.
The company recently commissioned a 1MWh thermal energy storage system in Brazil.
A relatively new market player in the thermal energy storage space is California-based Rondo Energy, which raised $22 million in a Series A round in February 2022, including Bill Gates' Breakthrough Energy Ventures . Breakthrough has invested in various thermal energy storage startups, including Antora Energy.
The company announced in July that it was working with another investor, Greece-based TITAN Cement Group, to develop new concepts for decarbonizing its industrial processes.
The company didn't specify what thermal energy storage technology it would use, other than describing its product as a "thermal battery" and saying it could be charged from a renewable power generation facility and provide continuous power at temperatures up to 1,500°C of heat.
The most detailed information the company provides on its website is that its thermal energy storage technology is made of bricks made from safe and widely available materials.
