Energy storage research network 28-02-2023 - Arhive
-Enea in the European energy storage research network
Create the first European network of research infrastructures on energy storage, to encourage the growth and diffusion of renewable sources.
This is the objective of the StoRIES project in which Enea, Cnr, Eni and 43 other partners from 17 European countries participate, including the German research center Karlsruhe Institut Fur Technologie in the role of coordinator. The four-year project is funded with 7 million under the European Horizon 2020 program and involves research institutions, technological institutes, universities, industries, members of the European Energy Research Alliance (EERA) and associations, including the European Storage Association of Energy (EASE). Enea will participate with eight infrastructures including a hi-tech laboratory to develop innovative materials for medium temperature thermal storage, a solar park among the largest in the world for the research and construction of molten salt concentration plants and a supercomputer in capable of performing up to 1.4 trillion mathematical operations per second (1.4 PetaFlop).
“StoRIES is a strategic project for Enea and for Italy, as it will allow to deepen and decline the concept of hybridization of the various forms of storage, chemical, thermal and electrochemical, in synergy with numerous European research groups”, he says Giorgio Graditi, director general of Enea. “In this context, like Enea, we will make available our CRESCO supercomputer, second in terms of computing power and speed in Italy, the experimental platform dedicated to the development and characterization of new materials and components for thermal storage, the dedicated laboratory to the study and testing of power-to-gas, hydrogen and methane technologies and other unique facilities in Italy”, concludes Graditi. In addition to making European-level research infrastructures and services accessible, the partners will work on the development and dissemination of energy storage systems, on the creation of new, more sustainable materials, on reducing the cost of technologies, but also on social acceptance through training and information activities. A specific focus will be on the issue of hybridization – i.e. the integration of different technologies and/or storage systems with the aim of increasing flexibility and efficiency in the sector – which will subsequently lead to the definition of a specific roadmap.
