Is Distributed Thermal Storage Next?

March 10th, 2010 by Susan Kraemer

Here’s one electricity storage technology that’s been around for over 20 years, under the radar, but might be due for a resurgence in interest with the addition of more wind power to the grid. Wind tends to blow at night when we don’t need it.

[social_buttons]

Steffes Electric Thermal Storage makes devices that store excess off-peak renewable electricity very simply, as heat, by heating up electric coils surrounded by ceramic bricks in a sealed container. The ceramic bricks are thermal sinks. They soak up the heat slowly, and when triggered to, can release that heat, just as slowly, providing low-cost heating.

Excess electricity generated can be stored at any time, like at night from excess wind power, and then released at any time it’s needed; on demand, in the form of heat.

Because it is useful for businesses and homeowners, it is distributed energy storage.

Replace oil heating

Homeowners in states like Maine, that mostly use oil for heating, could become virtually energy independent with electric thermal heat storage in conjunction with wind energy to compete directly with oil.

With residential wind turbines

In all of the windy Plains states from the Dakotas to Wyoming and Oklahoma, rural homeowners could store their own excess wind power, which is typically generated at night, in electric thermal storage in their home. Then, when needed, that captured heat can be released to warm the home all day. Whether the night wind comes from a utility, or their yard, wind is the perfect partner. It blows when we don’t need it, and the windy states need to use more energy for heating.

With utility-scale wind on the grid

Distributed storage is also good for utility-scale wind farms. This pairing of distributed thermal storage meets a need for stability on both sides: on the one side, the homeowner wants some guarantee of a low electricity rate before adding electric thermal storage – and on the other side utilities generating wind power want some guarantee that there are entities ready to use its energy when its generated (which for wind is when people are sleeping).

With energy-saver incentives

Many utilities already give out or provide discounts on energy-saving devices to encourage energy conservation, to help meet their Renewable Energy Standards (RES) that require them to add more renewable energy. As they add more renewable energy, they need to add more renewable energy storage.

With more wind power on the grid

Distributed storage (in homes) for off-peak electricity might be more cost-effective and easier to implement than centralized storage. Rebates like those for fluorescent light bulbs, could incentivize homeowners to add electric thermal storage.

With Renewable Energy Standards

In each state with RES requirements that utilities add more renewable generation; homeowners could be also encouraged with incentives to use distributed thermal electricity storage to help use excess wind energy at night.

Make Ice at Night to Store Wind Energy

Wind Storage Worth Trillions

For Baseload Wind Cheaper than Fossil Fuels

Storing Renewable Energy in Boxes of Air

Top ARPA-E Funding Goes to Renewable Storage in “Liquid Battery”

Metal-Air Battery With 11 Times the Energy at Half the Cost?

Pump Hydro Underground to Store Wind Power

More susan/” target=”_blank”>Cleantechnica from Susan Kraemer: Journalists on <a href="http://www.twitter.com/dotcommodity" target="_blank

Keep up to date with all the hottest cleantech news by subscribing to our (free) cleantech newsletter, or keep an eye on sector-specific news by getting our (also free) solar energy newsletter, electric vehicle newsletter, or wind energy newsletter.

Tags: cheap wind power, electricity storage, night storage off-peak energy, off-peak electricity

About the Author

Susan Kraemer writes at CleanTechnica, CSP-Today, PV-Insider , SmartGridUpdate, and GreenProphet. She has also been published at Ecoseed, NRDC OnEarth, MatterNetwork, Celsius, EnergyNow, and Scientific American. As a former serial entrepreneur in product design, Susan brings an innovator's perspective on inventing a carbon-constrained civilization: If necessity is the mother of invention, solving climate change is the mother of all necessities! As a lover of history and sci-fi, she enjoys chronicling the strange future we are creating in these interesting times. Follow Susan on Twitter @dotcommodity.

http://www.integralanalytics.com Kenneth Skinner

Free webinar on this topic with Kim Pederson of Otter Tail Power Company, Paul Steffes, President of Steffes Systems and Dr. Kenneth Skinner of Integral Analytics, March 17th, 2:00 Eastern:

https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/310659928
http://www.integralanalytics.com Kenneth Skinner

Free webinar on this topic with Kim Pederson of Otter Tail Power Company, Paul Steffes, President of Steffes Systems and Dr. Kenneth Skinner of Integral Analytics, March 17th, 2:00 Eastern:

https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/310659928
juan gault

People usually set up shop near where the goods are. Cities have developed where bays are, where rivers flow, where the weather is desirable. If a place has cheap electricity, maybe it’ll work for energy intensive industry, like making Aluminum. Turn the power into a profitable product. Great thing about people is their adaptability.
juan gault

People usually set up shop near where the goods are. Cities have developed where bays are, where rivers flow, where the weather is desirable. If a place has cheap electricity, maybe it’ll work for energy intensive industry, like making Aluminum. Turn the power into a profitable product. Great thing about people is their adaptability.
http://www.billiardtablelight.net/ Jack

Hey. Thanks for this post. I cruise alot of blogs just to see what I can find. I liked this write up you did and was just wondering if you have a subscriber page so I can link to it so I can read it at a later date? I did not see one – am I just overlooking it?

Jack
http://www.billiardtablelight.net/ Jack

Hey. Thanks for this post. I cruise alot of blogs just to see what I can find. I liked this write up you did and was just wondering if you have a subscriber page so I can link to it so I can read it at a later date? I did not see one – am I just overlooking it?

Jack
Tom Lakosh

How about smart hot water heaters that can be shut off a few hours before anticpated wind excesses and then store heat at a higher thermostat setting?

Optimally the utility would invest in larger stratified water storage tanks for hydronic heating systems with the new smart control system. In areas where cooling is the major power use, ice energy storage has been developed.
- http://cleantechnica.com/author/susan Susan Kraemer
  
  @Tom – Very interesting idea, I think… but not sure I get it. Could you explain it more?
Tom Lakosh

How about smart hot water heaters that can be shut off a few hours before anticpated wind excesses and then store heat at a higher thermostat setting?

Optimally the utility would invest in larger stratified water storage tanks for hydronic heating systems with the new smart control system. In areas where cooling is the major power use, ice energy storage has been developed.
- http://cleantechnica.com/author/susan Susan Kraemer
  
  @Tom – Very interesting idea, I think… but not sure I get it. Could you explain it more?
Chris Faranetta

This is an interesting idea for capturing the excess energy produced by wind turbines in off the grid applications. When charging our battery bank we constantly have to shunt excess electricity into a coil to level off power surges from wind gusts.
Chris Faranetta

This is an interesting idea for capturing the excess energy produced by wind turbines in off the grid applications. When charging our battery bank we constantly have to shunt excess electricity into a coil to level off power surges from wind gusts.
Greg R

Interesting article what Steffes Electric is doing sounds similar to what Elcal Research is working on. They are storing energy in the form of heat using a (phase change material) Much like ice to water except there material they are using freezes at 78 degrees and stores a amount of energy approaching ice to water. They use off peak electric, wind pv solar or glycol filled solar panels to heat their energy storage tank and heat or cool as needed using a heat pump. It works great and it will be economical check them out at elcalresearch.com
Greg R

Interesting article what Steffes Electric is doing sounds similar to what Elcal Research is working on. They are storing energy in the form of heat using a (phase change material) Much like ice to water except there material they are using freezes at 78 degrees and stores a amount of energy approaching ice to water. They use off peak electric, wind pv solar or glycol filled solar panels to heat their energy storage tank and heat or cool as needed using a heat pump. It works great and it will be economical check them out at elcalresearch.com