One of the vital elements in the decarbonisation of the energy sector is storage, since it enables integrating the production of energy generated through renewable sources on a larger scale. However, there are still several technological challenges. The SINNOGENES project seeks to address these questions, exploring different ways of storing energy, including thermal storage - which is very relevant to decarbonise the industry.
Among the technological challenges of energy storage, we find the use of critical materials, e.g., lithium or graphene, or the ability to store energy in the medium term, i.e., to transfer energy for days or even weeks. Hence, the main objective of SINNOGENES is the development of an energy toolkit – called SINNO Toolkit (Storage INNOvations Toolkit) -, which is basically a set of tools that will allow the integration of new solutions to store energy in the power grid. Said solutions will be integrated into a common platform – SINNO Middleware -, which is also being developed by the project partners.
"The project presents the coordinated, complementary and optimised operation of different storage technologies, together with renewable production and flexible loads. The creation of a communication platform like SINNO Middleware seeks to foster interoperability between resources, service providers and end users, with clear benefits for all: from the availability of a large volume of well-structured data (which follow a common semantics, thus facilitating its use) to the availability of a portfolio of tools that can be explored by various stakeholders, like ESCOs (energy service companies), aggregators, microgrid and energy community managers, among others", explained Ricardo Silva, researcher at INESC TEC.
One of the SINNOGENES working groups aims to develop storage technologies for industrial environments. This group, led by INESC TEC, will test the technologies in industrial contexts, at two locations in Europe – Portugal and Germany. Considering the Portuguese case, the pilot will take place in the city of Maia, at the SONAE Campus, with Capwatt responsible for leading the activities. In the German case, the DLR research centre will carry out the tests at Sanddorn GmbH.
"In these two demonstrators, INESC TEC, the University of Genoa and DLR are developing various asset management tools in the context of industrial micro grids. In addition, INESC TEC is also developing a micro grid simulation platform in isolated mode. The Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto (FEUP) is developing a new thermal battery, which will be integrated into the Maia demonstrator", stated the researcher.
Moreover, this 27-partner European project - with a budget of €9.6M - will also explore other fields other than the industrial sector. There are four more pilots under development – in Spain (two), Greece and Switzerland.
In the specific case of INESC TEC, the group of researchers involved in the project focuses on developing not only new tools, but also consolidating others previously developed, adding new features.
"What we propose is the development of a micro grid management tool, based on previous results of the Batteries2030 and DIGITALCER projects, now integrating the possibility of optimally planning the operation of different battery technologies like lithium-ion batteries and Redox Vanadium Flow Batteries, considering local production and load, to reduce energy costs and allow participation in flexibility and system services markets. The project also seeks to explore the joint management of the electricity and heat grids, considering the possibility of storing heat in the thermal battery developed by FEUP - which could contribute to reducing gas consumption, based on renewable production. We are also improving the testing capacity of micro grids, with the development of a real-time simulation platform that will allow testing new control algorithms and storage and production technologies", concluded the researcher Ricardo Silva.
The project started in January 2023 and ends in 2026. Among the 27 partners there are four Portuguese entities: INESC TEC, FEUP, Capwatt and Schneider Electric.
The SINNOGENES project is co-funded by the EU's Horizon Europe programme, under agreement No. 101096992.
This article was first published on 21 June by INESC TEC.
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