Situated in Esbjerg, Denmark, the Molten Salts Storage (MOSS) plant is being built for scalability to ultimately permit a storage capacity of one Gigawatt hour (GWh). This allows the system to store the equivalent daily electricity consumption of some 73’000 Swiss homes. At this capacity, the plant is projected to deliver annual CO2 savings of 32’000 tonnes per GWh of capacity.
Because renewable energy such as wind and solar is produced intermittently, development of efficient, reliable and affordable power storage is vital to a stable supply of sustainable energy. MOSS aims to address this key challenge of variable energy supply by testing an energy storage system using the molten hydroxide salt commonly referred to as drain cleaner. This salt is comparatively less expensive and more accessible than molten salts used for energy storage to date. The pilot plant is expected to go operational in 2024.
The thermal properties of molten hydroxide salt, which allow it to be heated to extremely high temperatures and stored for up to two weeks, make it an excellent medium for renewable energy storage. Using Hyme Energy’s energy storage technology and Sulzer’s custom VNY molten salt pump, MOSS will demonstrate whether this readily abundant resource can effectively store renewable energy and thereby overcome the challenge of an intermittent energy source.
MOSS consortium members include Aalborg University, Alfa Laval Aalborg, DIN Forsyning, Energy Cluster Denmark, Hyme Energy, KIRT X THOMSEN, Seaborg and Sulzer. In addition to member contributions, the consortium project is funded in part by the Danish Energy Technology Development and Demonstration Program (EUDP).
Sulzer’s Executive Chairwoman Dr. Suzanne Thoma commented: “MOSS has the potential to unlock stable renewable energy for future generations. It is literally that critical and exciting. Together with our partners, we are working to enable economies around the world to become more efficient and sustainable. As a business leader and a scientist, it really doesn’t get much better!”
CEO and co-founder of Hyme Energy, Ask Emil Løvschall-Jensen, said: “The energy storage facility in Esbjerg is a milestone for Hyme and a culmination of years of work to mature the technology. I’m proud that we can work with established industry players to demonstrate our technology. There is a lot of interest in our energy storage solution in the industrial and utility sectors, and it’s critical that we get to market quickly. The world and the climate cannot wait.”