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Enel Group and storage solution developer Brenmiller Energy have inaugurated a thermal energy storage system in Tuscany, Italy.

The system was developed by Brenmiller Energy in Israel, and integrated into Enel Group’s Santa Barbara power plant to validate its performance in a real environment.

According to Brenmiller Energy, the system offers reduced power plant start-up times and greater speed in load variations.

The system can be used to store excess energy produced from renewable sources in the form of heat to offer decarbonisation services to industrial customers and to integrate long-term storage solutions with renewable plants.

The storage technology utilises a two-stage charge and discharge process to provide thermal energy.

During the charging phase, steam produced by Enel Group’s Santa Barbara facility, passes through pipes to heat adjacent crushed rocks; during the discharging phase, the accumulated heat is released to heat pressurised water and generate steam for electricity.

This storage system can store up to 24MWh of clean heat at a temperature of about 550°C for five hours, providing critical resiliency to the power plant.

“Flexibility and adequacy are two fundamental components of an efficient and reliable electricity system, which can be supplied more and more efficiently by storage,” said Salvatore Bernabei, head of Enel Green Power and Thermal Generation at Enel.

“This trial allows us to validate a family of innovative and sustainable technologies in the segment of long-term storage, which will allow for an ever greater integration of renewables into the grid.”

Avi Brenmiller, chairman of Brenmiller Energy, said the system at the Santa Barbara plant “is the first-ever of its kind to provide utility-scale thermal energy storage and offers commercial and industrial users a viable path towards decarbonisation”.

“We believe the success of this moment reflects the types of innovative collaborations needed to transition the global economy away from its heavy, albeit lessening, dependence on fossil fuels, and towards a 100% clean, flexible and affordable energy grid.”

The collaboration between Enel and Brenmiller came about as part of an Italian-Israeli collaboration protocol aimed at boosting cooperation between Israeli companies and large Italian industries.

Ambassador-Designate of Israel in Italy, Alon Bar, said: “The Brenmiller Energy-Enel partnership takes the form of a continuation of the commitment made by the Israeli Embassy in promoting the collaboration protocol between the Israel Innovation Authority and Enel signed in 2015. This makes us particularly happy and enthusiastic in continuing to help these companies to thrive.”