Thermal energy storage integrated with photovoltaics

• 2m of Australian dollars will be allocated for Glaciem Cooling’s test of its innovative energy storage technology at three different sites.

Glaciem Cooling Technologies will be granted with 1.35m USD by ARENA. The money is allocated with the aim of investigating economical and technical feasibility of solar plus thermal storage solutions in heating, ventilation, air conditioning, and refrigeration.

The manufacturer is conducting R&D of PCMs for commercial and industrial refrigeration. Glaciem is working to improve operation and control of PCM-based thermal storage units used in solar installations.

In collaboration with UniSA, Glaciem has developed a cost-efficient solution for thermal energy storage. The system will use the process of heat transfer for energy storage and release.

Among other advantages, the innovative technology is based on the usage of carbon dioxide instead of high global warming potential refrigerants. Besides, the system utilizes such data as customer demand, power tariffs, and weather forecasts for improved operation and increased savings.

The technology will be piloted at three various locations: Reef HQ, Pernod Ricard, and Ceravolo Orchards.

The new technology is expected to help make the most of locally generated green power and at the same time minimize harmful environmental impact. 

Apart from the above project, Glaciem has been granted with nearly 680 thousand USD by AISRF for the development of commercially applicable cooling solutions powered from green sources, that can be used for energy storage in fresh milk refrigeration.