Desi-NADINE

The storage of large quantities of electrical energy is the unsolved core issue on the way to a CO₂-neutral energy system of the future. PXP storages convert electrical energy into energy forms (compressed air, thermal energy, hydrogen) which are storable well and reconvert them into electrical energy, if needed. As isentropic energy storages, they ideally have 100 % storage efficiency and are therefore potentially suitable to resolve the storage issue, cf. figure 1.

DLR, the University of Stuttgart and KIT jointly developed the concept for the research infrastructure NADINE (national demonstrator for isentropic energy storage): along with isentropic energy storage, a broad range of scientific challenges in the research of energy storage can be addressed.

In the DESI-NADINE project, the technical parameters of the infrastructure shall be defined and their costs shall be estimated. In parallel, concepts shall be developed for three future-oriented lead projects (A, B, C) of our project partners: Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), German Aerospace Center (DLR), and the University of Stuttgart. In those lead projects, the innovation potential can already be demonstrated prior to realizing NADINE.

Lead project A – University of Stuttgart:

A concept for the realization and integration of the SWS technology with additional cooling shall be developed for the Stuttgart High Performance Computing Center (HLRS). The HLRS waste heat flow with a current temperature of approx. 29 °C serves as heat source for a high-temperature heat pump which raises the heat flow up to a temperature level of approx. 120 °C.

The heat flow, cooled down, serves as cooling for the computing center. The high-temperature heat is stored in a thermal energy store and reconverted into electricity by a heat engine at any later point in time. The process criteria for isentropic energy storage will be fulfilled if energy storage and reconversion into electricity succeed with an efficiency factor corresponding to the reciprocal value of the heat pump’s coefficient of performance. In addition, the arising waste heat of the heat engine shall be used as reasonably as possible. Overall, an energy management system shall emerge from lead project A, connecting the three variables power – heat – cold and allowing for a sector coupling.

Based on numerical simulations on system and component level, design features and operational features are defined. Those features are the basis for a specification of the required experimental infrastructure NADINE, cf. figure 2.

Finally, the technical feasibility shall be shown and the energetic potential in the low-temperature area shall be evaluated.

01/2018 - 12/2019

German Aerospace Center (DLR) – Institute of Engineering Thermodynamics

KIT - Institute for Nuclear and Energy Technologies

The “Design project for the research infrastructure NADINE” is funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy via Project Management Jülich (PtJ) under grant number 03ET6142C. The authors would like to sincerely thank for their support.