New Innovation Stores Summer Solar Power For Use in Winter
- 4 hours ago
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It aims to tackle long-duration storage across seasons, one of the greatest challenges facing renewable energy systems.
A Norwegian company is developing a new seasonal energy storage system aimed to help homes store excess amounts of solar energy in summer for use during the winter. Designed by Oslo-based energy storage scaleup Photoncycle, the seasonal solid-state hydrogen energy storage system is set to roll out commercially to homes in Denmark and the Netherlands.
Photoncycle has secured funding to support the first phase of an industrial plant, part of a planned 1.4 terawatt-hour (TWh) annual energy storage manufacturing capacity expansion. It is set to go live in 2027 and could provide seasonal storage for a whopping 140,000 homes.
Photoncycle’s system is based on distributed, household-level seasonal energy storage. It aims to reduce the amount of imported gas needed to meet winter heating demand and slash Europe’s reliance on fossil fuel imports. In addition, the technology is also expected to cut household energy bills, make costs more predictable, and help homes become more energy independent by generating their own renewable power through a subscription model.
The subscription model will reportedly reduce upfront costs and include solar panels, storage and servicing. Further south, a solar panel subscription model in Spain is already booming, largely thanks to removing all upfront costs.
“Europe is beginning to solve short-duration storage,” Bjørn Brandtzæg, CEO of Photoncycle, told IE. “If households can store summer energy for winter use, they reduce exposure to imported fuel and price volatility as well as to increasing grid costs for consumers.”