Problem
Approximately 300 GW of intermittent renewable energy sources (solar and wind) are added every year to the grid.
Over the past few years, the amount of curtailed renewable electricity has increased dramatically due to the mismatch between supply and demand.
Current energy storage technologies (in the main, Li-ion batteries) are so expensive that they can only store energy for a few hours. The high cost of energy storage precludes the widespread use of renewable electricity to decarbonize other key sectors like heating, which represents 50% of global energy consumption.
To achieve zero-carbon heat and electricity, we urgently need to develop extremely cheap technologies that can store vast amounts of renewable electricity for long periods.
Solution
Thermophoton stores electricity as heat and converts it back into electricity on demand. This enables dispatching both heat and electricity on demand at a much lower cost than with Li-ion batteries.
