Heat hub

Mission

Heat Hub tries to achieve energy storage at an affordable price and high efficiency, by using electricity to heat storage and an optimalized charge/discharge cycle.

The challenge

With an evergrowing amount of renewable energy and a necessary reduction of fossil fuels, energy storage becomes more and more important. Renewable energy is often only available when the sun shines or when the wind blows, but problems arise if that's not the case. Therefore, energy storage is essential to bridge the gaps between power generation. Energy storage offers great advantages but also great challenges, such as the round trip efficiency. Storage systems with a better round trip efficiency tend to be more expensive, but our goal is to make an affordable variant that can be applied anywhere in the world.

The solution

The proposed solution is a type of heat storage that utilises heat pumps and converts the thermal energy back into electricity using a heat engine when the electricity is needed the most. The storage medium will most likely be basalt or salt because these materials can store large amounts of energy very cheaply. The part that distinguishes the idea from other types of thermal storage, is the optimalization in charging and discharging time windows, depending on the efficiency of the system. The concept is still in the starting phase, but the concept offers great potential. Apply now and maybe you can help!