ACR Journal

NEWS 10 June | July 2023 Volume 9 No.4 Trial success for EnergiVault Guests attended an open day to showcase the potential of the EnergiVault energy storage. The cold thermal energy storage (CTES) system from Lancashire- based Organic Heat Exchangers (O-Hx) is undergoing full working trials at the Alnwick site of Quotient Sciences, a drug development and manufacturing accelerator, and has already delivered significant benefits and savings after being installed alongside an existing chilled water system. EnergiVault consists of a charger, powered by Bitzer compressors, and thermal battery. The charger’s ice crystallisers charge the battery by converting up to 60% of the system’s heat transfer fluid (HTF), a water/glycol mix, into spherical ice crystals a fraction of a millimetre in diameter, each surrounded by a film of organic material. This ice slurry acts as the phase change material (PCM), resulting in a massive increase of the surface area over which the thermal transfer takes place. The thermal battery has very high discharge rates, and unlimited charge-discharge cycles with zero battery degradation. The system's cloud-based optimisation engine ensures peak savings in electricity and carbon. The battery is charged using o - peak electricity, or locally generated renewable power, and then drawn down for use during high-tari periods. The optimisation engine also enables the system to take advantage of periods of low carbon intensity on the. Operating data from the trial reveals that EnergiVault will handle 30% of the Quotient Sciences site's 500MWh per year cooling demand at a basic level of operation, utilising ToU shifting to avoid high electrical tari s. This has resulted in a 27% cost saving to date through load shifting and chiller e ciency benefits. When operating at its full potential, O-Hx calculates that savings significantly in excess of this will be available for the majority of sites, with potential for more than 60% saving against site cooling costs and reduction of CO 2 emissions. Presentations were made by members of the O-Hx team, Bitzer UK Sales Director James Graham, and Miranda Barker OBE, CEO of East Lancashire Chamber of Commerce. The opening of the first installation of EnergiVault at Quotient Sciences by Miranda Barker OBE, CEO, East Lancashire Chamber of Commerce, along with, from left, Jonathan Steven of O-Hx, James Graham of Bitzer and Bob Long of O-Hx