Demonstration of innovative forms of storage and their successful operation and integration into innovative energy systems and grid architectures
Demonstration of successful operation and integration of either standalone or combined innovative storage solutions (e.g. chemical, electrical, thermal, mechanical including e.g. compressed air/liquid, supercapacitors, innovative hydropower storage solutions) into innovative energy systems and grid architectures. Material development with respect to Supercapacitors is excluded from this topic, as it is treated in Cluster 4, topic HORIZON-CL4-2022-RESILIENCE-01-24 (""Novel materials for supercapacitor energy storage"").
Solutions should in particular explore, how innovative storage solutions can enable and drive further the successful penetration of renewable into the European energy mix across several important demand sectors (industry, energy, transport, residential, agriculture) by delivering effectively at the interface of renewable energies and specific demand sector needs.
The solutions should show clear innovation with respect to the state of the art e.g. through use of new advanced materials or new design solutions, always bearing in mind the objective of sustainability and circular economy, minimizing the environmental footprint.
The demonstrated technologies should respond to energy storage flexibility requirements in form of technological requirements and expected future investment and operational costs and business cases in existing or emerging energy markets, by acknowledging existing system designs and energy grid architectures. The demonstrated technologies should include interfaces for connecting with existing infrastructure, e.g. of hydraulic systems for innovative hydropower or the use of natural gas storage sites for hydrogen or biomethane storage, or abandoned infrastructure such as mines, or storage solutions in district heating networks.
When integrating the storage solution, common architecture models (Smart Grids Architecture Model - SGAM[[https://ec.europa.eu/energy/sites/ener/files/documents/xpert_group1_reference_architecture.pdf]]) and implementing standards (such as CEN-CENELEC, SAREF etc.) should be taken into account to ensure interoperability and compatibility.
Highest interoperability should be reached ideally for all, but in any case for most of the use cases of storage, so that cost of deployment of distributed storage is decreased.
Technical and regulatory barriers, also including the market dimension, should be taken into account. This together with considering consumer acceptance of the solution as a prerequisite to increasing participation of consumers in the energy system.
The selected projects are expected to contribute to relevant BRIDGE[[https://www.h2020-bridge.eu/]] activities.