On November 15, 2022, the Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab), and Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) announced that they will co-lead a new consortium, called Stor4Build, on energy storage for buildings that will accelerate the growth, optimization, and deployment of storage technologies.[1] Energy storage is necessary for the large-scale deployment of renewable electricity, electrification, and decarbonization. As much as 50% of electricity consumption in buildings in the U..S. currently goes toward meeting thermal loads. Thermal energy storage (TES) solutions could be a cost-effective energy storage alternative. TES is energy that can be stored in a material as a heat source or cold sink instead of as electrical energy and can be reserved for use at a different time. TES solutions can increase load flexibility, promote the use of renewable energy sources, and allow heat pumps to function more effectively and in more extreme climates.
The goal is for TES systems to reach installed capital costs of less than $15 per kWh of stored thermal energy. Stor4Build plans to develop metrics for identifying optimal performance targets for power and energy density, working temperature, materials and systems costs, round-trip efficiency, lifetime and durability, installation and operation, and maintenance costs. The consortium plans to complete a community-scale demonstration of technologies to showcase its initial achievements. The demonstration project will serve as a foundation for large-scale deployments of TES, along with electrochemical battery energy storage and systems capable of satisfying both the heating and cooling needs in buildings. Stor4Build will focus resources and efforts on developing zero-carbon, equitable, and affordable building TES technologies. The consortium will also release a road map report targeting technical and market gaps to be addressed to allow the market adoption and transformation needed for energy storage technologies in buildings.
[1] https://www.nrel.gov/news/press/2022/national-laboratories-launch-buildings-consortium-leveraging-benefits-thermal-electrochemical-energy-storage-americans.html