Full Title: Clean Energy 101: Thermal Batteries
Author(s): Colm Quinn, Nathan Iyer, David Hynek, and Ankur Dass
Publisher(s): Rocky Mountain Institute
Publication Date: February 3, 2025
Full Text: Download Resource
Description (excerpt):
Thermal batteries are hot. The technology, which promises to provide a cheaper, cleaner alternative for some of the roughly 20 percent of global energy consumption — usually derived from fossil fuels — that goes into industrial heating, is causing a lot of excitement, ranking as the reader’s choice for 2024 breakthrough technologies in MIT Technology Review.
Heat has long been a challenge in slashing carbon pollution from industrial processes. On-demand heat — including at temperatures of greater than 1,000°C, hot enough to melt glass — is necessary for a wide range of industrial applications, including food and beverage production, pulp and paper manufacturing, glassmaking, steelmaking, and most chemical manufacturing. By converting low-cost, low-value hours of electricity production into energy stored for long durations as high temperature heat, thermal batteries can deliver industrial heat and power cost-effectively and on demand, day or night, solving this crucial problem.
Thermal batteries aren’t just an industrial solution, they can also serve as backup energy for the grid, especially at times when other renewables production is low.