Study 9: Heat storage in industry

Heat accounts for more than half of France’s energy consumption and is therefore a crucial factor in reducing CO₂ emissions and optimising energy use, particularly through waste heat recovery technologies.

Heat storage is an essential component for ensuring that thermal energy is transferred as efficiently as possible when heat generation (the source) is not synchronised with potential heat consumption (the sink).

Whilst thermal storage technologies are already relatively well established in the energy generation sector and district heating networks, particularly for smoothing out thermal demand, they are, however, still not widely used in industrial activities, even though the potential for recovering waste heat from thermal processes is high and their use represents a significant challenge.

Driven by public policies providing financial support, there is growing interest amongst manufacturers in waste heat recovery. In this context, it is essential that storage technologies are publicised and their use is fully understood. The proposed study, conducted by CETIAT in collaboration with CEA Liten for the first phase of technology monitoring, is therefore intended to promote the uptake of thermal storage systems in the industrial sector.