Imagine a giant thermal battery for your building that stores heat or cold instead of electricity. It lets you 'charge' the system when power is cheap or from the sun, then use that stored energy later to keep the rooms comfortable. It's like a smart thermos that helps you avoid paying high prices during peak electricity hours.
Buildings face high electricity costs due to peak demand and the intermittent nature of renewable energy. Current HVAC systems lack the flexibility to store thermal energy efficiently over long periods.
A modular, plug-and-play thermal energy storage system featuring a closed-loop TCM reactor, PCM insulation, ice storage, and an advanced heat pump with a digital control system.
If you are an HVAC integrator dealing with high peak-load demands in new buildings — this project developed a plug-and-play thermal storage system that reduces electricity load peaks. It allows buildings to store heating and cooling energy for at least four weeks.
If you are a grid operator dealing with intermittent renewable energy and grid instability — this project developed a digitally controlled modular storage system. It enables electricity load shifting to stabilize the network using distributed micro-storage grids.
If you are a heat pump manufacturer dealing with efficiency losses during charging cycles — this project developed an advanced heat pump integrated with PCM thermal buffers. This increases overall performance during the thermal charging process.
Based on available project data, specific pricing is not listed, but the project focuses on demonstrating cost-effectiveness, affordability, and Life Cycle Cost Analysis (LCCA) to ensure the system is competitive.
The system is designed as a modular and plug-and-play solution, which suggests it can be scaled by adding more modules to meet different building or grid requirements.
Based on available project data, licensing details are not provided; however, the consortium includes 10 industry partners and 4 SMEs who are likely involved in the exploitation of the developed technology.
The system includes a dedicated control system that adapts to energy production and user requirements, allowing it to function within smart electricity grids for load shifting.
The project period runs from 2023-01-01 to 2026-12-31, suggesting that fully validated commercial versions would likely emerge toward the end of 2026.
The consortium is heavily industry-weighted with a 50% industry ratio (10 companies, including 4 SMEs), indicating a strong push toward commercialization. With 20 partners across 7 countries, the project has a broad European footprint, combining the research power of 9 academic/research institutions with practical industrial application.
Contact the Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR) in Italy.
Contact us to connect with the ECHO consortium for licensing modular TES technology.
