Energy and living

Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft

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Compact energy storage

Wind and solar power plants have one disadvantage: they supply energy in an “unregulated” way. If we want to ensure the supply of electricity even when there is no wind or when it is raining, we will need entirely new systems that have the ability to store energy when it is produced and release it when it is needed.

Projects

  • Breakthrough in electricity storage: New large and powerful redox flow battery

    More and more electricity is being generated from intermittent sources of power, such as solar and wind energy. Powerful electric energy storage devices are necessary to level out corresponding irregularities in the power supply. Fraunhofer scientists have recently made an important breakthrough with their development of a redox flow battery that reaches stack power up to 25 kW, with a cell size of 0.5 square meters. This is eight times larger than the previous A4-sized systems. They presented the new battery for the first time at the 2013 Hannover Messe trade show.

  • Beyond Tomorrow project »Hybrid energy storage system for urban use«

    Übermorgen-Projekte

    In the future, electricity may not only be stored in large-scale centralized systems, but in decentralized storage systems in consumers homes – directly in lithium batteries or indirectly using intelligent appliances that generate and store electricity. The system will be controlled using a combination of software and hardware under development by Fraunhofer scientists within the scope of the project “Urban hybrid storage systems.” The concept of hybrid storage encompasses the production of both electricity and heat.

  • Compact and flexible thermal storage

    Link: download picture

    Biogas plants, combined heat and power plants don’t just generate electricity, they also produce heat. However, unlike the electricity they yield, the heat generally dissipates unused. A new technology is set to change this: It will allow the heat to be stored lossfree in the smallest of spaces for lengthy periods of time, for use as and when required.

  • Storing green electricity as natural gas

    Renewable electricity can be transformed into a substitute for natural gas. Until now, electricity was generated from gas. Now, a German-Austrian cooperation wants to go in the opposite direction. In the future, these researchers and entrepreneurs would like to store surplus electricity – such as from wind power or solar energy – as climate-neutral methane, and store it in existing gas storage facilities and the natural gas network.