OSLO,NORWAY: Kyoto Group, a Norwegian company that provides thermal energy storage solutions, has announced that it has connected the world’s largest electrical heater for molten salt to the grid at the Nordjylland Power Station in Aalborg, Denmark.
The heater is a key component of Heatcube, the first ever full-scale thermal energy storage system that can store and deliver heat and power on demand.
The heater was delivered by Vulcanic, a Spirax Sarco company that specialises in electrical heating and cooling solutions. Vulcanic recently invested in and signed a long-term partnership agreement with Kyoto Group to support the commercial roll-out and technology development of Heatcube. Vulcanic’s technicians were present at the commissioning of the heater, which was successfully tested using the Battery Management System (BMS) that monitors and controls Heatcube.
Heatcube is a groundbreaking project that showcases the potential of thermal energy storage as an enabler to electrify industrial process heat and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Heatcube uses molten salt as a medium to store excess electricity from renewable sources and convert it back to heat and power when needed. The project is supported by the Danish Energy Agency and Energinet.dk.
Kyoto’s Chief Project Officer Agnieszka Sledz said that the connection of the heater was a momentous milestone in Kyoto’s journey as a leading technology provider to the net-zero society. She said that the final step in the commissioning process was to circulate molten salt through Heatcube to discharge steam from the steam generator, which was planned for later this month.