SPF Competencies Energy Storage

Renewable Metal Fuels

Metal redox processes may achieve extremely high energy storage densities and are thus very promising candidates for seasonal storage of renewable energy. For storing large amounts of energy over longer periods, there are significant advantages if these metals are not used in rechargeable batteries. Instead, oxidized metal is reduced in a power-to-X process in a first step (storage charging), and the energy is recovered later at any place and time via the oxidation of the metal (storage discharging).

SPF is one of the first and only Universities of Applied Sciences in Switzerland to deal with the use of «non-battery» metal redox processes for seasonal energy storage. The aim of this research and development is to achieve significantly higher energy densities at lower costs and environmental impacts compared to conventional batteries or other power-to-X processes. Reference projects are HybridStock, AlEnCycles and REVEAL.