On November 13, four parties, Toshiba Energy Systems (Toshiba ESS, Kawasaki City), Chubu Electric Power, Shin Tokai Paper Industries (Shimada City, Shizuoka Prefecture), and Shimada City, Shizuoka Prefecture, announced the construction of a "stone thermal storage" plant using stone thermal storage and energy management technology. The two companies announced that they have reached a basic agreement on cooperation to promote the demonstration of energy management equipment technology. The cooperation agreement is scheduled to be signed on November 25.
With the expansion of renewable energy, mainly from naturally variable energy sources, the increasing curtailment of production has become a problem. To solve this problem, thermal storage technology is being developed to create a stable supply and efficient use of energy by storing excess electricity as heat in thermal storage materials such as rocks, molten salts and concrete, and using it to provide heat and generate electricity when needed, it is said to be attracting attention.
In rock thermal storage, rock with low material cost is used as thermal storage material. It is expected to have high advantages in environmental friendliness, economy and equipment reliability because it does not require special chemicals or treatment, does not pollute the environment when disposed of, can be used semi-permanently without deterioration and has low maintenance cost.
Toshiba ESS and Chubu Electric Power are conducting joint research, and in 2022, they will conduct technology development and demonstration testing of a test facility with a thermal capacity of about 500 kWh. We have collected thermal characteristic data related to heat storage and release, and developed a method to predict heat storage and release, which is important in the design of a system that combines rock thermal storage and energy management.
In this demonstration, Japan's first stone thermal storage energy management device with a thermal capacity of approximately 10 MWh will be installed at Shin Tokai Paper's Shimada Mill in Shimada City, Shizuoka Prefecture. Electricity from the mill will be used to operate electric heaters, and heat will be stored in a thermal storage tank. The stored heat will be used at the mill at the optimal time using Toshiba ESS's energy management technology, and it will also be converted into electricity for use. We also plan to evaluate the feasibility of utilizing surplus electricity.
Toshiba ESS, Chubu Electric Power, and Shin Tokai Paper will manufacture the device by the end of 2025 and conduct technology verification testing in 2026. Shimada City will support the demonstration project as a local government. Selected as a ``Interdisciplinary Carbon Neutral Technology Development/Regional Co-creation/Demonstration Project'' by the Ministry of the Environment in fiscal 2020.
Invite partners to watch the activities of Pacific Group Co., Ltd.
FanPage: https://www.facebook.com/Pacific-Group
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@PacificGroupCoLt
