Thermal Energy Storage:
How can thermal energy storage play a role in a renewable energy future?
Thermal energy storage provides a way to store excess renewable energy at scale for on-demand consumption
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The transition to renewable energy requires large-scale energy storage due to the intermittent nature of energy generation from most renewable sources, especially solar and wind energy. Due to the cost and
material sourcing concerns of grid-scale lithium ion batteries, thermal energy storage presents a potentially attractive solution. Two primary classes of thermal energy storage exist: sensible thermal energy storage, or energy stored through increasing temperature, and latent thermal energy storage, or energy stored through the latent heat associated with a phase change. Phase change materials (PCMs) with a high latent heat can store large amounts of energy over a narrow temperature range. Low-cost manufacturing of efficient PCMs could enable cheap grid-scale energy storage with minimal energy losses for applications in waste heat and solar thermal energy storage.
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