Study 33: Barriers and drivers to the roll-out of high-temperature heat storage in industry

In 2021, ALLICE carried out an initial technical study on heat storage in industry, presenting a review of the state of the art in existing solutions as well as several case studies assessing the technical feasibility of implementing these solutions. There is thus a marked interest amongst most players in the thermal storage sector in solid thermocline technologies. This interest has helped to accelerate the maturation of this technology, which is now commercially available with a TRL of 8. Detailed fact sheets for each technology are included in the study report.

Today, although heat storage projects offer advantages in terms of energy efficiency, their roll-out appears to be facing difficulties. This raises questions about the target market for these solutions and the business models that could accelerate their adoption. Indeed, the thermal storage capacity deployed in industry remains limited.

The aim of this study is therefore to analyse the conditions necessary for the roll-out of thermal energy storage in industry. These include:

• to understand the current market;
• to identify the sectors relevant to the implementation of the technologies;
• to identify the drivers and business models likely to stimulate the roll-out of thermal storage in industry.

The study focused on industrial applications involving heat storage combined with high-temperature utilisation (above 150°C). The analysis of a combined system with a power-to-heat solution was also considered.