Hyme Energy has awarded Semco Maritime an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract for services for a 1.6 MWh Molten Salt Storage (MOSS) project in Esbjerg, Denmark. The long-term energy storage facility will be connected to the network and will be used to demonstrate and test the molten hydroxide storage technology in practice.
“The MOSS pilot plant is the first energy storage plant ever built with molten hydroxide salt. It consists of a 1.6 MWh storage unit, which lays the foundation for future GWh series plants,” Hyme Energy CEO Ask Emil Løvschall-Jensen told. pv magazine.
He said the purpose of the facility is to demonstrate and test the company’s molten hydroxide storage technology under practical conditions.
“The plant is being tested to prove component integration, validate our system design, learn about optimal materials and components, and demonstrate operational and system control,” he said.
Therefore, the demonstration plant is only used for heat production. However, supplying heat to Esbjerg’s district heating system is not part of the project, the company explained.
Hyme’s energy storage technology stores electricity from renewable sources in 700 C molten hydroxide salt for up to two weeks. It is based on a two-tank storage design developed for concentrated solar power plants (CSP) and Hyme’s patented hydroxide salt corrosion control technology.
When charging, electricity from renewable energy sources is converted into heat via electric heaters. The salt in the cold tank is circulated through heaters and heated from 350 C to 700 C and then stored in the hot tank.
At the moment of emptying, the salt from the hot tank circulates to the evaporator, where the energy is transferred to the water, creating high-temperature steam. The steam can be used directly in an industrial process or used to power a turbine and generate electricity and district heat. After that, the cooled salt is pumped back into the cold tank until the next charging cycle.
Hyme’s storage technology is scalable and a 1 GWh plant with sodium hydroxideAccording to the company, it should be able to produce electricity and heat for about 100,000 households with a 10-hour discharge.
Since sodium hydroxide can be produced at low cost from seawater as a by-product of chlorine production, according to the company’s calculations, this is six times cheaper than the standard salts used in storage.
Founded in 2021, Hyme is working on another demonstrator on the Danish island of Bornholm. The company’s 10-15 MWh molten salt storage will be part of a scalable hybrid storage system, which also includes QuinteQ Energy’s flywheel storage system and recycled lithium ion batteries supplied by PLS Energy Systems.
The aim of Bornholm’s 2LiPP project is to provide insights into possible ways of reusing electricity and heat cogeneration plants. It produces heat, electricity and ancillary services for the local network.
In November 2022, the Danish company signed a cooperation agreement with Power Engineering Consulting Joint Stock Company 2 (PECC2) for at least 2 GWh by 2030 and at least 6 GWh by 2035 for thermal energy storage projects in Vietnam.
The design of the MOSS project is expected to be completed in the second quarter of 2023, with the subsequent installation phase expected to be completed in the fourth quarter. Hyme has received support from the Danish Energy Agency for the construction of a pilot plant.
“Esbjerg’s storage system is connected to the regular grid, not directly to renewable energy sources. When excess electricity (when the price is low) is loaded into the storage system, the electricity comes mainly from renewable sources, Løvschall-Jense said.
This is possible because the Esbjerg area is known as a favorable geographical area for wind power, where large offshore projects are already underway.
“We have matured the MOSS project over the past year and will soon be ready to start the construction phase at Semco Maritime,” concluded the CEO.
In addition to the MOSS project agreement, the partners have agreed to explore cooperation opportunities in Hyme’s future large projects, where its long-term thermal energy storage solution enables the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions from electricity and heat production.
