World premiere for green energy storage in Esbjerg

Solar and wind entail natural fluctuations that are not always in step with a modern society, and power is currently difficult to store without huge and expensive battery packs. Furthermore, some industrial sectors are difficult to electrify because they require very high process temperatures.

The ambitious and innovative MOSS project in Esbjerg will contribute to solving these challenges by storing energy in a newly developed salt storage facility, which is being developed in partnership between Hyme Energy and Semco Maritime, among others, with Energy Cluster Denmark as the facilitator.

In Esbjerg, the visions have now entered the testing phase with the inauguration of the first pilot project that is physically located at partner Semco Maritime. The locally based group has extensive experience in technical plants for the oil/gas industry, including salt corrosion management.

“The pilot plant will show that the entire supply chain is ready to build on an industrial scale and that everything works as it should. We can show interested companies here how they can take the step to electrify their processes away from natural gas or other fossil fuels,” says Ask Emil Løvschall-Jensen.

Once green power is converted into heat in the salts storage, the energy can be recovered in several ways. One way is via a steam turbine that converts the heat back to power, but it’s even more attractive for companies with a constant production and consumption of steam from a natural gas boiler.

“Here, you can charge the plant in eight hours, for example, but hold and discharge steam 24/7. Other cases may be where charging at night is shifted to daytime consumption,” says Ask Emil Løvschall-Jensen.

And while electrification can remove a lot of carbon emissions, it also has its limitations.

“Around 15 per cent of energy consumption in Europe is used for heating processes above 200 degrees and there are no proper solutions today involving electrification. So, there is simply a technological gap where companies are tied to fossil fuels. At the same time, a storage facility like ours can help stabilise the grid by charging very flexibly when it suits the grid’s needs. You can’t do that in the same way with a hydrogen plant,” the Hyme CEO explains.

The organisation has secured EU funding for further development and helped get the technology from the Moss project tested on a larger scale as part of an EU project – including with partners from Poland where many coal-fired power plants are to be converted.

“We see two aspects to this: A technological aspect, because Esbjerg is already the global capital of offshore wind power and now the focus is on the challenge of storing green power. The project is a prime example of putting a spotlight on Esbjerg as a place where technologies are being developed. Straight away we have a new link in the area’s energy journey,” says Napier.

“The second aspect is the development of the entire value chain. It’s also about attracting skills and companies in a completely new business area, and it’s possible that the pilot project here will be a good showcase that can provide inspiration for others.”

Hyme points out that the area’s strong competences in terms of energy have contributed to Esbjerg being chosen. There may also be synergies in collaboration with projects aimed at the production of hydrogen at high temperatures.

For the Hyme CEO himself, who celebrated his 40th birthday two days before this interview, the personal motivation is to help build something truly sustainable.

“We work with nature’s own salt water as storage. There’s no child labour in precious metal mines, so I can look my three children in the eye and be proud of what we do,” says Ask Emil Løvschall-Jensen.

“It’s a technology that has the potential to completely change the rules of the game. Not everything is up and running yet, but we’re on a development journey and that’s one of the things that motivates me the most.”