Swedish energy giant Vattenfall is working with compatriot company SaltX Technology to test how renewable wind and solar power can be stored in salt.
A 10 megawatt-hour pilot plant at the Reuter thermal power plant in Spandau, Berlin, was officially commissioned today.
Technology developed by SaltX will be tested for the first time on an industrial scale at the plant, Vattenfall said.
The system is based on nano-coated salt that enables a ‘salt battery’ to be charged several thousand times storing energy for weeks or months without losses, it added.
The tests will run until the end of the summer 2019, after which the data will be evaluated and the results presented at the end of the year.
Vattenfall Warme Berlin executive responsible for the project Markus Witt said: “In the next few months, we will collect important data to get answers to the question of whether and how this type of plant can be used in our business.
“Some questions are how large amounts of salt can be used, how quickly the storage medium reacts and how the process can be controlled.”
SaltX chief executive Harald Bauer said: “The energy sector is changing quickly, and we globally see an enormous need for energy storage. Germany is a country at the forefront of this development and we are proud to have Vattenfall as a partner.
“We are eager to launch our energy storage solution commercially as quickly as possible.”