Researchers from the ITACA Institute at the Universitat Politècnica de València highlight the strategic role of thermal energy storage as one of the keys to advancing towards more efficient, sustainable and climate-neutral cities.
This approach is supported by a study led by the ICTs Against Climate Change (ICT VS CC) group, which demonstrates that thermal storage can overcome technical limitations in electricity networks with high renewable energy penetration.
The work, developed by Andrés Ondó Oná-Ayécaba, Javier F. Urchueguía, Borja Badenes and Álvaro Martínez-Ponce (ICT VS CC), together with Manuel Alcázar Ortega (Institute for Energy Engineering at UPV) and Efrén Guilló Sansano (Enercoop Group), analyses the behaviour of a real microgrid under different demand growth scenarios: the current situation and increases of 50%, 75% and 100%.
Research details
The research evaluates the integration of the ECHO-TES system, developed within the European ECHO project, using advanced simulation tools such as OpenDSS and Python, which enable real microgrids to be modelled and intelligent demand management strategies to be applied.
To this end, a simulation platform was developed that accurately replicates the electrical behaviour of the microgrid across four demand growth scenarios, capturing the progressive deterioration of voltage profiles, increases in active and reactive power losses, and the appearance of line overloads under high and extreme load conditions.
“The results show that as demand grows, the network suffers greater losses, voltage problems and overloads. However, thermal energy storage makes it possible to shift consumption, reduce demand peaks, relieve the most heavily loaded lines and improve grid stability. In addition, it facilitates greater integration of renewables by making use of surplus generation”, explains Borja Badenes, researcher at ITACA.
Conclusion
The study concludes that the energy transition will significantly increase pressure on electricity networks, with greater risks of overloads, losses and supply quality issues. In this context, thermal energy storage—especially when combined with clean sources such as geothermal energy—has emerged as a strategic solution.
“It allows demand to be managed, reduces consumption peaks, improves grid stability and helps move towards a more sustainable energy system», concludes Andrés Ondó Oná-Ayécaba, lead author of the study.
Reference: Evaluation of Technical Constraints Management in a Microgrid Based on Thermal Storage Applications by Modeling with OpenDSS. Andrés Ondó Oná-Ayécaba, Manuel Alcázar-Ortega, Javier F. Urchueguia, Borja Badenes-Badenes, Efrén Guilló-Sansano, Álvaro Martínez-Ponce. DOI: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/15/24/13088
