The online seminar on "Large Thermal Energy Storages for District Heating" organized by TTMD together with its international collaborators the IEA Energy Storage (ES) TCP and the IEA Solar Heating and Cooling (SHC) TCP was held on November 24, 2023. Moderated by Prof. Dr. Halime Paksoy, the seminar speaker was Wim Van Helden, the Task Manager for ES TCP Task 39 on Large Thermal Energy Storages for District Heating and the co-Task Manager for ES TCP Task 40 / SHC TCP Task 67 on Compact Thermal Energy Storage – Materials within Components within Systems.
In the opening speech of the seminar, Halime Paksoy explained the history of the International Energy Agency (IEA) and gave a brief update on the working areas of the technology collaboration programs ES TCP and SHC TCP. Wim Van Helden started his presentation with general information about energy storage technologies and described the activities of the ES Task 39 working group on large thermal energy storage for district heating.
Giving an example of thermal energy storage for district heating from Berlin, Helden said: "10.2 TWh of heat is produced annually for the equivalent of 1.4 million residential consumers. By utilizing renewable electricity, the heat produced using a heat pump is stored in a 56000 m3 tank. Replacing an old coal-fired cogeneration system, this is the world's largest tank thermal energy storage system."
Wim Van Helden also emphasized that large thermal energy storage can be found in many different applications, giving examples of heating projects with thermal energy storage in greenhouses and aquifers, as well as regional heating, and said that it has been seen in the applications that unit investment costs are decreased to 10 Euro/m3 with the increase in the capacity of these systems.
Pointing out that there is a significant potential for systems that have not yet been widely implemented in Turkey, Helden invited experts from Turkey to join the new ES Task 45, where joint activities will be held to ensure that these systems, which will be launched within the scope of the ES TCP, quickly take their place in the market.
The seminar, which attracted intense participation, ended after the question-answer session.
Webinar video: https://youtu.be/Z23HzrWTU0s?si=39md-kEb0EtcnLu-
About TTMD: Turkish Society of HVAC and Sanitary Engineers (TTMD) was founded in 1992 with the goal of improving and fostering the services provided by Mechanical Engineers in heating, refrigerating, ventilating, air-conditioning, plumbing, insulation and control areas of the building industry. Today, TTMD has become an association where professionals from different disciplines, such as designers, consultants, reps, manufacturers, installers, operators, academicians etc, come together on a common platform for shared goals.