2016

G!E Academy on Storage

By admin23 December, 2016News

Greenovate! Europe members presented their expanding competences in the area of Storage at an academy session organised in co-operation with the Spanish National Renewable Energy Centre (CENER) on December 13. CENER’s Renewable Energy Grid Integration Department (IRE) hosted the event, showcasing the impressive depth and scope of their research and development activities in this field.

With the potential to smooth the integration of renewables, as well to increase grid reliability and reduce costs, storage is increasingly seen as a priority sector by EU industry and policy makers. In Pamplona, Greenovate! Europe members showcased the range of work they are undertaking in this area, covering both storage solutions for the energy system, as well as for industrial and residential users.

CENER presented a selection of the different storage technologies which they are working on, including: CSP solar thermal storage, cryogenic energy storage (CRYOHUB) and zinc-air energy storage (LIFE ZAESS).

Attendance at AETP2016 in Madrid

By admin04 November, 2016News

On October 20 the fourth edition of the conference “Energy Storage technologies and projects” (AETP2016) took place in Madrid.

LIFE ZAESS in the “Gallery of Innovation” of Genera

By admin05 August, 2016News

The LIFE ZAESS project was selected to participate in the Gallery of Innovation of Genera 2016 exhibition, on 15-17 June.

This initiative, now in its eighth edition, is intended to recognize and publicize innovative projects in renewable energy, energy efficiency and environment. The poster prepared for that call was exposed during the days of the International Fair of Energy and Environment in the premises of IFEMA in Madrid.

In addition, the project partners were able to visit the pavilion where the fair was held to know the latest information presented with respect to energy storage to provide services to the network.

LIFE ZAESS Workshop – REDOX FLOW BATTERIES

By admin15 July, 2016News

As part of the dissemination activities of the LIFE ZAESS project, on June 14 the workshop “LIFE ZAESS – Redox flow batteries” took place in Madrid with a great affluence of public.

The day was divided into three main parts: presentations, debates and technical visit. During the part of the presentations, the issues raised included the development of the technology, solutions for integration and power electronics. From that point, and by reflecting on what was heard during the morning, the debates led to interesting conclusions that are publicly available on the Workshop section. It is worth noting the variety of profiles of the participants, given the growing interest on energy storage systems for grid support applications, including flow batteries as a promising solution.

Before concluding, we had the opportunity to visit the José Lladó Technology Center of Técnicas Reunidas, where is located the pilot plant which is being used to perform the tests specified in the project tasks of LIFE ZAESS.

THE INSTALLATION OF THE PILOT PLANT OF LIFE ZAESS PROJECT HAS BEEN ACCOMPLISHED

By admin29 April, 2016Progress

According to the plan, the installation of the pilot plant of the project has been successfully completed during the month of March. It is a zinc-air flow battery of 1 kW and 4 kWh consisting of three modules, which will serve as a test bed for the next phase of the project.

The cells of the battery are connected in series to provide a nominal voltage of 24 V and a maximum current of 90 A. For its part, the energy is stored in about 1 m3 of electrolyte which is circulated through the cells using pumps. Regarding the air necessary to discharge the battery, it is driven directly from the atmosphere, previously passing through a conventional filter. The whole plant is built in plastic, inexpensive and recyclable materials. In addition, the electrolyte is nonflammable, which gives the plant greater security.

The battery incorporates a monitoring system to carry out the measurement and recording of all necessary system parameters. The test plan scheduled for 12 months duration has been defined in the first stage of the project based on international protocols and standards, according to the intended applications for the technology under study.

After the testing stage, and from data collected during its progress, a technical and economic study to validate the operation of a large-scale plant equivalent will be carried out.

International Zinc/Air Battery Workshop

By admin20 April, 2016News

The first IZABW (International Zinc/Air Battery Workshop) was attended by a hundred researchers from different universities and companies from European countries like Germany, France, Spain, Italy, United Kingdom, Norway, Austria, Bulgaria, Denmark and Switzerland as well as countries such as Canada, Israel, China, Malaysia and Singapore. The workshop took place at the WBZU (Education and Training Centre Ulm for Innovative Energy Technologies) in the German city of Ulm, and was organized under the project BMBF “Zinc/Air Battery with Advanced Materials for Storage of Renewable Energies and Grid Balancing “(LUZI).

Technicians from Tecnicas Reunidas attended the event to present a poster on the activities within the project LIFE ZAESS, focusing on the construction of the zinc/air flow battery pilot plant.

In addition, during the conference they could learn from the experiences of other research centres about zinc/air technology. Thus, the attendance at this conference has allowed TR to meet potential partners for future projects.

In conclusion of the conference, it should be noted that new electrolytes and new materials are the subject of many studies, and thus the current results of technology are expected to improve in the coming years.

Further information: Poster IZABW ZAESS (also available on documents’ section).

Tecnicas Reunidas attends the II MABIC Congress about metal-air batteries

By admin17 March, 2016News

The second edition of the Metal-Air Batteries International Congress took place from 7^th to 10^th March at the Magdalena Palace in Santander. The congress hosted various presentations on the milestones achieved and the future challenges for further development of the different types of metal-air batteries, which are considered strong candidates to meet the urgent needs of the market in sectors such as electric vehicles, smart grids and consumer electronics.

Tecnicas Reunidas attended the conferences to give an update of the progress of the LIFE ZAESS project. As a highlight, the assembly of the 1 kW/4 kWh zinc-air flow battery pilot plant is nearing completion to give way for the series of tests planned for validation. Simultaneously, the tasks of technical-economic and environmental impact study for the scaled 1 MW/4 MWh plant will be developed.

Finally, the opportunity was taken to invite attendees to the LIFE ZAESS Workshop on redox flow batteries, which will take place in Madrid on 14 June. National experiences on different technologies of flow batteries will be presented, regarding both the development process and the practical use.

Further information: http://albufera-energystorage.com/mabiccom/

MEETING OF COOPERATION AMONG LIFE PROJECTS AT JOFEMAR PREMISES

By admin11 March, 2016News

On February 19, at the premises of Corporacion Jofemar, a meeting of collaboration among different LIFE projects took place: LIFE FACTORY MICROGRID, LIFE RESPIRA, LIFE REWIND and LIFE ZAESS. To this meeting attended technicians from the participating centres, Jofemar, Cener, Universidad de Navarra and Universidad de Zaragoza. During the meeting shared experiences in such projects and possible ways of collaboration were discussed. Later, a visit to the microgrid located at Jofemar in Peralta (Navarra) was paid.

More information:

www.factorymicrogrid.com
www.liferespira.eu
liferewind.unizar.es

Tecnicas Reunidas attends the Grid+Storage Workshop in Madrid

By admin04 March, 2016News

The fifth Grid+Storage regional workshop was held in Madrid on 15 and 16 February 2016 with the support of the ERA-Net Smart Grids Plus initiative, where several smart grids and energy storage projects from Portugal and Spain were presented.

The Grid+Storage project’s consortium is formed by TECHNOFI, EASE, EDSO, ENTSO-E, RSE and VITO. They have been selected by the European Commission to support DG Energy and the Member States in defining a European R&D roadmap integrating energy storage into grid research and innovation activities, both at electricity transmission and distribution levels.

Four interactive sessions were held to discuss with the audience and with ENTSO-E, EDSO and EASE representatives about the lessons learnt by the projects presented and the future research and innovation topics to better integrate energy storage into the power system.
The partners of the LIFE ZAESS project attended the workshop to learn best practices for storage integration and to continue with the project’s networking activities. It is worth noting that, as a member of the European Association for Storage of Energy (EASE), CENER actively participates on the Grid+Storage project, and contributed to the workshop with a presentation.

www.gridplusstorage.eu

A meeting of collaboration between projects LIFE FACTORY MICROGRID and LIFE ZAESS occurred

By admin11 January, 2016News, Progress

On December 1, a meeting of collaboration between projects LIFE FACTORY MICROGRID and LIFE ZAESS occurred. To this meeting attended technicians from the three participating companies, Jofemar, Tecnicas Reunidas and Cener. During the meeting shared experiences in such projects and possible ways of collaboration were discussed, both projects sharing an interest in energy storage and integration of renewables in the network. Later, the microgrid at the premises of Jofemar in Peralta (Navarra) and Cener’s microgrid in Sangüesa (Navarra) were visited.

One of the first fruits of the collaboration between the two projects is the participation as speaker of the company Jofemar in the workshop organized by the project ZAESS about flow batteries. This workshop will take place in Madrid next May and will be one of the firsts developed in Spain to discuss in depth this storage technology. Jofemar will present its experience in the development of flow batteries.

Further info: www.factorymicrogrid.com