Pumped thermal energy storage
Energy storage will play a pivotal role in the future energy system based on renewables. The Gas Turbine chair of the TU Delft performs research on the application of thermal energy storage to drive power generation in combination with heat supply to industrial processes and domestic applications. The main technologies studied by TU Delft are Pumped Thermal Energy Storage (PTES) and Compressed Heat Energy Storage (CHEST), where CHEST uses waste heat to increase the round trip efficiencies. These energy storage technologies have an acceptable round trip efficiency, relatively low storage costs (in EUR/MWh) and don’t use rare metals.
More information about the most recent research of TU Delft on this subject can be found in a number of MSc theses. Papers are in preparation.