Heat Batteries: Electro-Thermal Energy Storage

Steam is essential for most industrial processes - from refining to pulp & paper production, to in-situ oil production, to food manufacturing, and so on. Electro-Thermal Energy Storage (“ETES”) presents a low-cost, safe, reliable, and highly scalable pathway toward electrified industrial steam production, improving industrial competitiveness and resilience.

Arder Energy supports clients as either independent consultant or project developer. We work with Rondo Energy’s heat batteries - robust, reliable and inherently safe.

Using electricity to generate steam may be counterintuitive - why convert a highly valuable energy carrier like electricity into “simple” heat? This indeed only makes sense if the electricity is cheaper than e.g. Natural Gas or if Scope 1 emissions need to be significantly reduced. And both of these factors are becoming increasingly true.

The game changer for electricity prices is the rapid growth of wind and solar power generation. These forms of renewable power generation often have the lowest levelized cost of electricity, see e.g. detailed analysis by investment bank Lazard. And when the wind blows and the sun shines, power prices increasingly go to zero or even negative, even in Canada (see detailed analysis in our “Alberta Power” series of Insight Articles).

But what if the wind doesn’t blow and the sun doesn’t shine? That’s where the ETES system, the “heat battery”, comes in. It needs only 6-8 hours of charging per day to provide 100% steam output continuously. The heat battery is charged through electric resistance heater wires - like a giant toaster. And the heat is then stored in refractory bricks - like in a steel kiln, with temperatures of up to 1,500 C. The bricks have air channels, and a blower circulates air through these channels. The air is heated to match the output of a gas power burner and then enters a Heat Recovery Steam Generator (HRSG) to generate steam.

Sounds simple, almost boring? It is, and that’s what makes the approach so robust and cost effective. And safe - with zero thermal runaway or toxic release risk. Why hasn’t this been done before? As mentioned, the game changer have been intermittently cheap power prices, a relatively new phenomenon.

To summarize, Electro-Thermal Energy Storage (“ETES”) uses

• Cheap Intermittent Electricity, to

• Charge a Heat Battery, to

• Deliver heat or steam continuously (dispatchable), with

• Zero Scope 1 emissions

In order to provide clients with

• Low-cost, reliable industrial heat

• Power transmission & energy cost optimization

• Revenue opportunities through emissions credits (TIER, CFR, LCFS, …)

We specialize in commercial concept design and project funding solutions. We focus on profitable applications - already feasible today for 5-15% of steam demand in Alberta, Saskatchewan and British Columbia, presenting an economically attractive option for a large number of facilities.

Whether your facility presents one of those opportunities can be established through a free feasibility study.

If you would like to learn more and explore options to decarbonize heat or steam production in a profitable way, please Contact Us, consult the FAQ or see our Insights article Emissions-free steam: Keeping it Simple for more details.