CONCEPT
“The REVEAL project will be a breakthrough and a game-changer in renewable energy technologies”
One of the main keys – and possibly THE main key - for a climate neutral Europe are technologies for the storage of renewable energies over longer time at an attractive cost and with an acceptable environmental impact.
CURRENT SITUATION
Renewable electricity and heat can be produced cheaply today and short-term storage solutions for evening out mismatches between production and demand are available at low cost. However, technologies for storing renewables for longer time-spans of months or seasons are scarce and costly and thus not widely used yet.
REVEAL SOLUTIONS
REVEAL project develops a game-changing and unique solution to this challenge, using the conversion of aluminium oxide into aluminium metal (Power-to-Al) in an environmentally friendly way to store renewable energy and produce a "renewable fuel" in the form of aluminium.
This ground-breaking technical solution will enable to store large amounts of energy with an unmatched energy storage density of over 15 MWh/m³ at an attractively low cost, without losses and with lower environmental impact than today's solutions. The easy transportable energy vector can be used for heat and electricity or hydrogen production wherever and whenever needed, in scalable units from few kW to the MW range.
This breakthrough high-density storage solution will enable to cover energy demands with flexibility also in small units and off-grid situations, and – above all – in seasons where the demand is much higher than local renewable production could possibly cover.
Therefore, with the emerging technology of carbon free reduction of aluminium oxide to aluminium in combination with the release of energy from an aluminium storage vector, this project will provide one of the missing pieces of the puzzle for a climate neutral Europe.
REVEAL project‘s energy storage cycle based on the oxidation and reduction of aluminium, with a high temperature (Al-steam) and low temperature (Al-water) discharging process.
APPROACH
The main innovation of the REVEAL project is the introduction of a new game-changing route of Power-to-X that has received little or almost no attention yet: the electrolysis with carbon- free aluminium electro-winning cells and the use of the generated renewable aluminium as fuel to provide heat and electricity.
Compared to Power-to-H2: a much higher volumetric energy density of 23.6 MWh/m3 at maximum (block of Al), and > 15 MWh/m³ in practice (Al grit used for the Al-to-Energy units), much safer handling, and much easier to store and transport, with corresponding cost savings and increase of acceptance.
Compared to Power-to-CH4 and Power-to-methanol: no carbon source is needed, a two times higher volumetric energy density, and safer handling, potentially reducing the cost of energy conversion and storage considerably.
Compared to other technologies: no combustion with air for energy conversion and therefore no NOx, VOC, CO and CO₂ emissions.
The advantages of this possibly disruptive Power-to-X technology compared to the standard technologies that are discussed and used today are: