ENERGY STORAGE
T H E H E A T E C O N O M Y
HALF OF OUR ENERGY CONSUMPTION CONCERNS HEAT
T R A N S P O R T I S O N E T H I R D A N D E L E C T R I C I T Y I S O N E F I F T H
WARMING
The effects of man-made global warming are increasingly obvious
THREE WORDS
We need energy which is clean, cheap and secure
RENEWABLES
Switching from fossils to renewables will be cleaner, should be cheaper, but can't be secure without storage
OUR ENERGY SYSTEMS CAN USE CARBON CAPTURE AND STORAGE TO LIMIT THE EMISSIONS THEY CREATE.
OR WE CAN DEVELOP CLEAN CHEAP AND SECURE SYSTEMS WHICH DON'T CREATE CARBON EMISSIONS.
Major economies are pledged to transform their energy mix by 2050. Most propose a transition to use 60%+ renewables (often solar and wind). The intermittency and overproduction of these non-dispatchable sources requires management through energy storage. This doesn't have to mean storing electricity. Heat storage provides a bigger scale of opportunity.
The Heat Vault Company is an Anglo-Swedish enterprise created by Imaginatives Group in 2021
info@theheatvaultcompany.com
Ultra-Long Duration, utility scale, underground energy store within naturally occurring rocks in the form of heat
Architecture of multiple deep boreholes some to input heat others to extract it
Input of energy from waste heat from facilities and waste or excess electricity from grid
Collects energy in off-peak and seasons with low energy demand at low cost
Stores energy for weeks, months, years or decades
Output of energy at peak and seasons with high energy demand at acceptable price, decoupled from global hydrocarbon price volatility
Output can be as heat, cooling, electricity or green hydrogen
Serves large infrastructure markets at GWh and TWh capacities
SOLVES RENEWABLES INTERMITTENCY I ELIMINATES CURTAILMENT I IMPROVES SOLAR EFFICIENCY I ACCELERATES RENEWABLES ADOPTION I DECARBONISES HEAT NETWORKS I ENHANCES GEOTHERMAL ENERGY USE I RECYCLES AND AUGMENTS INDUSTRIAL HEAT I REMOVES NUCLEAR HEAT EXCESS I REPURPOSES POWER UTILITY ASSETS
STORES VAST ENERGY FOR DECADES
GLOBAL HEAT SECTORS
W H E R E T H E H E A T V A U L T W I L L H A V E A B I G I M P A C T
Seasonal demand for heat is highly variable, creating technical and economic challenges for heat networks.
Heat Vault can store heat in Summer when demand and costs are low and supply heat over the four months of Winter, or other seasons, when demand is higher.
The energy transition requires solar and wind electricity to be 60% of mix by 2050, which needs sizeable storage to manage intermittency.
Heat Vault can create vast storage as heat by utilising waste electricity and waste heat during periods of excess or at low cost in off peak hours, storing it for days to years and supplying it to suit demand for heat or electricity. Its use can eliminate curtailment.
Geothermal resources are more commonly discovered in active zones or at great depth, where temperatures are high enough to be useful for electricity or heat supply.
Heat Vault can store excess heat from deep geothermal and take mid-level geothermal energy at lower temperature, boost it to high temperature and store it, making geothermal achievable in many locations without risk of expensive deeper drilling.
Global industrial waste heat is significant. Key industries are also major heat energy consumers at scale and for a wide range of temperature.
Heat Vault can receive waste heat from industry at low to moderate temperatures, store it, reprocess it for heat supply for space or process heating at low temperatures or heat consuming processes at high temperatures.
All forms of nuclear fission or fusion plant generate significant quantities of heat by design or as waste product from reactor coolant systems.
Direct low temperature district heating or higher temperature process heat from isolated nuclear plants may not be dispatchable to meet demand but could be stored within Heat Vault at scale for later re-use.
Fossil fuel-fired electricity generating utilities are in transition and require cleaner alternatives for continued operations of assets and infrastructure.
Rather than partial decarbonisation using gas or biomass feedstocks, Heat Vault coupled with electricity generating turbine technology can achieve full decarbonisation at lower cost than other options and with marked reduction or elimination of feedstocks while retaining generating assets and infrastructure.
