The UK launch of the IceBat Cold Thermal Battery range was held in March at the Institution of Engineering & Technology London, the event relaunched the Fafco IceBat back into the UK market after a twenty-two-year break.
This relaunch is centreed on the developing UK need to store and load shift energy, whether this be in the form of electricity or in this case thermal batteries.
The attendees at the launch learnt about the well proven IceBat Thermal Battery range that provides single unit battery capacities from 650kWh to 20,000kWh and is manufactured by French based Fafco.
With over 1500 units operating worldwide, and an installed capacity of 3.6GWH, IceBat is an advanced Cold Thermal Battery that is able to enhance cooling system efficiency while significantly reducing operating costs and carbon emissions.
In basic terms the IceBat enables a cooling system to store energy by converting electrical energy into stored Cold Thermal Energy within the IceBat Cold Battery.
Ref: https://purethermal.co.uk/cold-thermal-energy-storage/
The Institution of Engineering & Technology IceBat launch.
The launch event was very well attended with over 50 attendees from a cross section of industries learning about the well-proven technology and how Icebat Cold Batteries to be applied within both retrofit and new installations.
Garry Broadbent of Pure Thermal commented, ‘even though Cold Thermal Batteries have not been a mainstream selection choice in the UK for over 20 years it’s really encouraging to be able to demonstrate current use at scale in Europe’, continuing, ‘with our grid constraints and the opportunities to utilise low cost/low carbon electricity in the UK we’re actually now in a period where Ciold Thermal Batteries can be applied to provide real benefits’.
Fafco, a global leader in thermal energy storage solutions, last provided equipment to the UK market in 2003 but now due to the clear need to increase UK energy storage the decision has been made to return to the UK to offer Cold Battery Solutions to the UK market.
In order to provide a complete UK technical support service, from system design to ongoing maintenance, Fafco has appointed Pure Thermal as its Sales & Technical Partner/Distributor for the UK and Irish markets. With this structure Fafco and Pure Thermal are now able to bring this well-proven Cold Thermal Energy Storage technology to the UK market, addressing the increasing demand for flexible, cost-effective and resilient cooling solutions.
The IceBat launch provided a complete technical overview covering the IceBat patented Heat Exchanger Technology that enables high levels of efficiency to be delivered at scale to match the demands of both retrofit and new applications.
A number of application examples were demonstrated by Yannick Ropartz of Fafco via case studies of installed systems across various sectors from building services/HVAC through to manufacturing and production.
‘We believe the UK market will offer the same potential as our existing European markets’, commented Yannick Ropartz,’ there is no reason why the application of the IceBat should be different from country to country and the attendance at our launch really reinforced this’.
From the Q & A session it was clear that the main application drivers resonated with the attendees and can be summarised in five main areas:
- Reduces operating costs via accessing variable/lower electricity tariffs
Maximises and enables the use of low-cost electricity by operating chillers/cooling plant to charge the IceBat when lower cost tariffs are available
- Enables carbon reductions to be achieved from cooling systems
Improves the efficiency of existing cooling systems by reducing emissions via operating cooling plant when low carbon input electricity is available
- Provides cooling system resilience
Reduces the need for oversized chillers/plant while ensuring peak or contingent demands can be satisfied by maintaining predetermined cooling capacity levels for use at any time
- Enables cooling capacity peak shaving with no additional power supply
Increase on-site cooling capacity from existing systems by accumulating thermal capacity during low demand periods by applying chillers to charge the IceBat
- Reduce the size of installed cooling plant
The capacity of installed chillers can be reduced by using the IceBat to provide primary cooling alongside Chillers. By charging the IceBat overnight, using the installed Chillers, the IceBat is able to discharge and provide primary cooling capacity in parallel with the Chillers during peak demand periods the following day.
In addition to the Pure Thermal and Fafco speakers Mark Walker, Chair of the CIBSE Healthcare Group, was invited to provide input from CIBSE and specifier viewpoints.
Mark presented a historical overview of Ice Storage and also provided a summary of where Cold Thermal Energy Storage can deliver benefits moving forward within both retrofit and new cooling applications which stimulated very positive feedback & questions.
Alongside this discussion the subject of energy costs was also covered and how fluctuating electricity costs and grid resilience are becoming increasingly critical to UK infrastructure and how it’s clear that the demand for cost-effective thermal storage solutions is rising.
Unlike traditional electrical battery storage, IceBat provides a highly economical and efficient way to store and utilise energy for cooling applications.
‘As an industry we’re seeing increasing requirements for load shifting and also capacity management within cooling applications’ commented Garry Broadbent of Pure Thermal, continuing ‘based on the increasing need to reduce carbon and as importantly use low-cost electricity we see the IceBat being able to maximise the performance of existing cooling systems by them converting low-cost electricity into stored thermal energy’.
6000kWh IceBat providing peak demand capacity using low cost overnight electricity to charge via incumbent chiller plant.
Feedback from attendees at the launch definitely reinforced that the application potential was understood and that the use of Cold Thermal Batteries within existing and new systems is able to provide a real opportunity to maximise the performance of existing chillers/cooling plant and deliver savings.
It’s clear that with a 40-year track record and 1500 installed units the IceBat range is a well-proven solution with the ability to deliver immediate retrofit benefits for both industrial and commercial cooling applications.
