Unlocking the Future of Energy Storage: HYSTORE’s Vision for Thermal Energy Storage (TES)

Hystore partners at Montserrat

As the energy transition accelerates, Thermal Energy Storage (TES) is emerging as a crucial solution for balancing grids, optimizing buildings, and reducing energy waste. The latest meeting of the HYSTORE partners in January in Montserrat (Spain) highlighted three key takeaways that emphasize TES’s role in grid services, advanced storage potential, and interdisciplinary collaboration.

1. TES as a Grid Service & Building Integration

TES is no longer just a supplementary technology—it has the potential to become a strategic asset for both energy grids and buildings. HYSTORE’s research (D1.3) demonstrates that TES can significantly reduce renewable energy curtailment, shifting excess electricity from renewables to heating and cooling applications. This capability enables:

  • Load balancing and peak shaving, easing grid stress.
  • Optimized building energy management, enhancing efficiency and comfort.
  • Seamless integration with heat pumps and smart controls, unlocking new flexibility for users.

By storing surplus renewable energy as heat, TES helps stabilize the grid while reducing dependency on fossil fuels. With smart control algorithms like Model Predictive Control (MPC), TES systems can dynamically respond to fluctuations in supply and demand, maximizing efficiency and cost savings. Here goes your text … Select any part of your text to access the formatting toolbar.

2. Latent and Thermochemical Storage: Unlocking Untapped Potential

While sensible heat storage (e.g., water tanks) is widely used, latent heat (PCM) and thermochemical (TCM) storage solutions remain underutilized despite their superior energy density and long-duration capabilities. Early results from HYSTORE’s research (WP2) highlight their immense potential:

  • PCM storage efficiently captures daily heating and cooling cycles, offering quick response times.
  • TCM storage enables seasonal energy shifting, storing heat for weeks or months with minimal losses.

With further development, these technologies could redefine long-term energy storage, ensuring renewables are fully utilized year-round.

Discover more about PCM technologies here.

3. The Need for Interdisciplinary Synergies

Maximizing the impact of TES requires cross-sector collaboration. The HYSTORE project fosters an interdisciplinary approach, bringing together:

  • Building energy specialists to refine integration strategies.
  • Data and control engineers to optimize TES operations.
  • TES researchers to develop next-generation materials and storage methods.

By bridging expertise across fields, TES can evolve into a mainstream solution for energy flexibility, decarbonization, and resilience.

Facilitating the Acceptance of new technologies: the World Cafè Meeting

During the meeting, we had the opportunity to engage local stakeholders in a World Cafè Meeting organised by the CNR. 

What is a World Cafè Meeting? It is a co-creation and co-design method and tool which aims to facilitate the acceptance of new technologies in the community. Nevertheless, products and services resulting from co-creation are more likely to succeed due to their clear added value for users.

Local stakeholders together with Lars were engaged in the discussion with fruitful outcomes that can support HYSTORE partners to communicate and shape technologies more in line with local needs. 

To learn more about the World Café method, read Agatino Nicita’s interview. 

Discovering Monserrat

The meeting was also an occasion to visit Montserrat, one of HYSTORE’s pilot cases where the prototype will be installed in the facilities room to support the heating and cooling of the Abat Oliba Hostel in the Montserrat Monastery district. 

The Road Ahead for TES

TES is poised to play a transformative role in the energy landscape—from supporting smart grids to revolutionizing long-term storage. The next steps involve scaling deployment, refining materials, and strengthening interdisciplinary collaborations to unlock TES’s full potential.

With HYSTORE leading the way, thermal storage is not just an option—it’s a necessity for a sustainable energy future.